A  SKETCH  OF  THE  HISTORY 

OF   THE  APOSTOLIC 

CHURCH 


BY 

OLIVER  j.  'THATCHER 

OF  THB   UNIVERSITY   OF  CHICAGO 


BOSTON    AND   NEW   YORK 
HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN   AND   COMPANY. 

£fu-  ililH-rsiDc  prcstf, 


Copyright,  1893, 
BY  OLIVEE  J.  THATCHER. 

All  rights  reserved. 


The  Riverside  Press,  Cambridge,  Mass.,  U.  S.  A. 
Electrotyped  and  Printed  by  H.  O.  Houghton  and  Company. 


TO   MY   TEACHER 

PROF.  ADOLF  HARNACK 


221259,'i 


THE  author  wishes  to  express  his  thanks  to  his 
colleagues,  Prof.  ERNEST  D.  BURTON  and  Prof. 
NATH.  BUTLER,  Jr.,  for  their  kind  criticisms  and 
substantial  help  in  preparing  this  book  for  publi- 
cation. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  THE  CONDITION  OF  THE  WORLD       ....  1 

II.  THE  EXPANSION  OF  JUDAISM         ....  19 

III.  THE  SPREAD  OF  CHRISTIANITY  .....  34 

IV.  THE  CHURCH    IN    JERUSALEM    DURING  THE  FIRST 

FOURTEEN  YEARS 62 

V.  BREAKING  THE  JEWISH  BONDS         .        .        .        .89 

VI.  THE  BURNING  QUESTION 125 

VII.  THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL 159 

VIII.   THE  LAST  YEARS  OF  PAUL 254 

IX.  THE  OPPOSITION  TO  CHRISTIANITY    ....  273 
X.  AUTHORITIES,  GOVERNMENT,  AND  WORSHIP  .        .      288 

CONCLUSION 301 

APPENDIX.-  THE  CHRONOLOGY  OF  THE  PERIOD       .        .      307 


A   SKETCH   OF  THE  HISTORY   OF 
THE   APOSTOLIC   CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    CONDITION    OF    THE    WORLD.1 

IN  the  history  of  Christianity  nothing  is  more 
remarkable  than  its  rapid  spread.  Beginning  as 
a  Jewish  sect  whose  founder  had  suffered  the  most 
shameful  death,  in  an  obscure  province,  among  a 
people  that  had  played  no  important  part  in  the 
world's  history  and  for  many  reasons  was  every- 
where despised,  it  steadily  advanced  even  in  the 
face  of  fierce  persecutions  and  obstacles  of  many 
kinds,  until,  within  less  than  three  hundred  years 
from  its  first  proclamation,  it  had  so  large  and  in- 
fluential a  following  throughout  the  Roman  world 
that  the  shrewd  and  calculating  Emperor  Con- 
stantine  recognized  that  it  could  Jbe  made  a  most 
powerful  support  of  his  throne.  And  fifty  years 
later  the  Emperor  Gratian  actually  made  it  the 
only  legal  religion  of  the  state.  Besides  this,  it 
had  spread  beyond  the  now  dwindling  boundaries 

1  See  also  the  great  work  by  Friedlaender,  Sittengeschichte 
Eoms,  on  which  this  chapter  is  based. 


2       HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

of  the  empire,  and  the  name  of  Christ  was  honored 
among  barbarians  and  peoples  that  acknowledged 
no  allegiance  to  Rome.  And  all  this  success  with- 
out a  stroke  of  the  sword.  Such  a  record  has  no 
parallel  in  history.  It  challenges  our  admiration, 
and  demands  an  explanation. 

How  was  this  possible  ?  "  But  when  the  fullness 
of  the  time  came,  God  sent  forth  his  Son."  1  That 
is  Paul's  answer  to  the  question.  In  spite  of  the 
evil  that  is  in  the  world,  Paul  believed  that  God 
was  ruler.  He  was  filled  with  the  sublime  thought 
that  the  God  whom  he  served  was  the  God  who 
controlled  men  and  nations.  For  Him  no  event 
could  be  a  surprise,  no  result  a  disappointment. 
The  history  of  the  world  was  the  history  of  the 
accomplishment  of  his  purpose.  The  long  delay 
in  the  coming  of  the  promised  Messiah  was  that 
the  world  might  be  made  ready  for  Him.  If  we 
look  at  the  condition  of  the  world  as  it  then  was, 
we  can  easily  understand  what  Paul  meant  by  the 
"  fullness  of  the  time."  Christianity  made  its  ap- 
pearance at  the  one  time  in  the  history  of  the 
world  when  all  circumstances  were  most  favorable 
for  its  spread.  The  time  was  ripe.  The  world 
was  ready  to  receive,  develop,  and  propagate  such 
a  faith. 

If  we  look  at  the  political  condition  of  the  world 

we   are  struck  by  the  important  fact  that  it  was 

under  the  rule  of  one  man.     Rome,  at  first  a  city 

of  husbandmen,  had  united  under  one  sceptre  all 

1  Gal.  iv.  4. 


THE  CONDITION  OF  THE  WORLD.  3 

her  immediate  neighbors.  Her  first  successes  led 
necessarily  to  other  wars;  for  she  had  not  only 
to  defend  her  conquests,  but  also  to  make  them 
secure  from  all  danger  of  attack.  The  only  way 
to  accomplish  this  was  to  conquer  the  adjoining 
territory.  She  could  make  her  frontier  secure  only 
by  extending  it.  She  was,  therefore,  logically 
forced  into  the  career  of  a  conqueror.  She  soon 
came  to  believe  that  it  was  her  mission  to  rule  the 
world.  The  Orbis  JRomanus  was  to  be  cotermi- 
nous with  the  Orbis  terrarum. 

She  had  not  been  content  to  be  mistress  of  the 
West  alone,  but  had  followed  in  the  way  of  Alex- 
ander the  Great  to  the  East.  For  nearly  a  thou- 
sand years,  beginning  with  his  conquests,  the 
Orient  was  forced  to  feel  and  unwillingly  to  con- 
fess the  mental  and  military  superiority  of  the 
Occident. '  This  long  period  of  western  domination, 
of  close  contact  and  mutual  influence,  which  was 
to  be  ended  by  the  violent  national  reaction  under 
Mohammed,  was  now  reaching  its  acme.  Commu- 
nication between  the  East  and  the  West  had  never 
before  been  so  easy  and  unhindered.  All  the  gates 
between  them  were  open,  the  barriers  gone.  And 
in  every  khan  and  seaport  crowds  of  Europeans 
with  faces  to  the  East  jostled  and  elbowed  the 
throngs  of  Asiatics  and  Africans  that  were  in  the 
great  stream  of  travel  to  the  West. 

But  there  had  just  been  made  a  most  significant 
change  in  the  form  of  government  of  this  vast 
state.  From  a  republic  it  had  become  an  empire. 


4       HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

In  theory  it  had  two  heads,  the  Emperor  and  the 
Senate ;  but  in  reality  the  Emperor  was  sole  mas- 
ter. The  power  was  in  his  hands,  for  he  had  the 
army.  The  Senate  was  powerless,  and  hence  obse- 
quious. As  a  matter  of  form  the  Emperor  for  a 
time  consulted  it,  but  it  soon  lost  even  the  appear- 
ance of  power,  and  became  little  more  than  an  aris- 
tocratic club. 

The  early  Christian  apologists  saw  in  this  fact  a 
mighty  argument  against  Polytheism.  They  drew 
a  parallel  between  the  one  Emperor  who  ruled  the 
civilized  world  and  the  one  God  who  ruled  the  uni- 
verse. Even  here  on  the  earth  it  is  necessary  for 
the  welfare  of  all  that  there  be  but  one  head,  one 
will.  How  much  more  necessary  for  the  harmony 
and  the  preservation  of  the  universe  that  there  be 
but  one  God  to  rule  it  ?  How  else  could  the  reg- 
ular order  of  all  things  be  preserved,  the  pleasant 
change  of  seasons,  of  night  and  day,  the  harmo- 
nious and  regular  movements  of  the  sun,  moon,  and 
stars  ?  The  existence  of  many  gods  would  make 
all  this  impossible.  And  when  the  Emperors  began 
to  associate  with  themselves  their  successors  with 
the  title  of  Caesar,  the  further  parallel  was  drawn 
between  the  Emperor  and  his  crown  prince,  who 
was  his  helper,  and  God  and  his  Son,  to  whom  He 
had  given  a  share  in  the  government  of  the  uni- 
verse. 

But  this  change  in  government  had  a  deeper 
significance  and  more  substantial  effects  in  many 
ways.  It  meant  that  the  world  was  indeed  one 


THE  CONDITION  OF  THE  WORLD.  5 

land.  The  Roman  armies  had  done  their  work 
well,  and  the  national  boundaries,  which  had  been 
such  hindrances  to  intercourse  and  progress,  were 
wiped  out.  The  once  hostile  nations  were  now 
peaceably  passing  through  the  same  process ;  they 
were  becoming  Romanized.  They  were  all  on  the 
road  to  Rome. 

Great  as  Rome  was  in  her  conquests,  she  was 
even  greater  in  her  government.  Of  this,  the 
province,  which  was  her  invention,  was  the  pecu- 
liar characteristic.  All  the  empire  was  divided 
into  provinces,  whose  governors  were  responsible 
directly  to  the  Senate,  or  to  the  Emperor.  It  was 
impossible  that  one  uniform  system  of  laws  should 
everywhere  be  introduced  at  once.  Roman  laws, 
customs,  and  institutions  could  not  replace  those 
of  the  conquered  in  a  day.  The  process  of  Ro- 
manizing was  a  slow  and  difficult  one,  but  Rome 
had  a  genius  for  governing.  She  knew  how  much 
of  her  yoke  a  conquered  people  could  bear.  She 
knew  how  to  control  without  oppressing  too  se- 
verely, and  she  was  wise  in  subjecting  them  to 
influences  which  in  the  end  would  make  faithful 
Roman  subjects  of  those  who  had  once  feared  and 
hated  her. 

The  provincial  governors  had  general  directions 
to  guide  them  in  their  difficult  task.  The  size  of 
the  empire  made  it  impossible  for  the  Emperor  to 
oversee  everything  in  person,  and  the  differences 
that  still  existed  between  the  various  parts  of  the 
empire  prevented  a  rigidly  uniform  application  of 


6        HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

the  laws.  The  peculiar  circumstances  in  each  prov- 
ince had  to  be  regarded,  and  so  it  was  imperative 
that  the  governors  be  allowed  much  liberty  and 
independence  of  action.  Sometimes  they  were  lit- 
tle more  than  Roman  police.  But  everywhere  they 
had  two  objects  in  view :  first,  to  keep  the  people 
quiet ;  and  second,  to  Romanize  them.  They  must 
make  the  best  of  everything,  yield  when  necessary, 
and  take  advantage  of  every  opportunity  to  ad- 
vance the  interests  and  increase  the  influence  of 
Rome.  Generally,  they  were  left  to  their  own 
judgment,  and  only  in  the  more  difficult  cases  did 
they  appeal  to  the  Emperor  for  instructions.  From 
the  nature  of  the  case  the  legislation  had  to  be 
special  and  local,  not  universal.  The  Emperors 
issued  edicts  for  each  province  as  the  situation 
demanded.  This  lack  of  uniformity  and  fixedness 
in  the  laws  and  legislation  was,  in  one  respect,  of 
great  advantage  to  Christianity.  It  made  a  uni- 
versal persecution  almost  impossible,  because  that 
must  proceed  from  the  Emperor  in  the  form  of  an 
edict  for  the  whole  empire.  The  Christians  might 
be  persecuted  in  one  province,  while  in  all  other 
parts  of  the  empire  they  were  undisturbed.  The 
result  of  all  this  was  that  the  Christian  question 
was  a  local  one  until  the  middle  of  the  third 
century.  That  is,  there  was  no  general  edict 
against  them  until  that  time. 

To  add  to  the  difficulties  of  the  Emperor's  posi- 
tion, the  frontier  was  everywhere  threatened  by 
barbarians,  and  distant  provinces  were  constantly 


THE  CONDITION  OF  THE  WORLD.  1 

revolting.  So  great  and  distracting  were  his  duties 
that  he  could  not  have  accurate  knowledge  of  all 
that  was  going  on  in  this  vast  territory.  Through 
its  organization  the  Church  had  become  a  great 
power,  almost  a  state  within  a  state,  before  the 
Emperors  discovered  that  it  was  a  menace  to  the 
existing  order  of  things. 

The  influence  of  Rome  on  the  conquered  peoples 
was  varied  and  profound.  She  set  for  herself  the 
task  of  assimilating  the  world.  All  peoples  must 
become  Roman.  No  other  nation  has  had  such 
remarkable  digestive  and  assimilative  powers.  She 
absorbed  one  after  another  of  the  conquered  peo- 
ples, and  of  them  all  only  one  held  fast  to  its  nation- 
ality. The  Jew  remained  a  Jew,  although  a  Roman. 
Her  greatness  awed  and  dazzled  all  and  filled  them 
with  the  desire  of  having  a  share  in  her  glory. 
After  coming  into  contact  with  Rome  they  lost  in 
great  measure  their  attachment  to  the  little  father- 
land.' They  desired  to  be  Roman,  for  to  be  Roman 
was  to  be  a  citizen  of  the  world.  To  be  anything 
else  was  to  be  provincial.  Roman  citizenship  was 
for  a  long  time  the  synonym  of  the  highest  and 
best  that  could  be  obtained.  Her  government  was 
really  a  training-school  for  Roman  citizenship. 
She  tried  to  give  all  the  world  Roman  laws,  Roman 
culture,  Roman  modes  of  thought,  Roman  ideas. 
It  was  her  aim  to  unify  all  peoples  by  Romanizing 
them,  by  lifting  them  up  to  her  level.  And  so  far 
had  this  process  progressed  that,  in  the  year  215 
A.  D.,  Caracalla  actually  conferred  the  right  of 


8       HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

Roman  citizenship  on  all  the  inhabitants  of  the 
empire.  To  be  sure,  this  right  had  lost  much  of 
its  value  then.  It  did  not  actually  confer  much, 
because  what  had  been  the  peculiar  possession  and 
privilege  of  the  Roman  citizen  was  now  the  common 
property  of  all.  That  marks  the  progress  which 
the  world  had  made  under  the  tutelage  and  gov- 
ernment of  Rome. 

The  change  in  the  form  of  government  hastened 
this  process.  The  Emperor  quickly  replaced  Rome 
in  the  thoughts  and  affections  of  the  people.  The 
homage  that  had  once  been  Rome's  was  now  his. 
He  was  a  kind  of  personal  as  well  as  movable  cap- 
ital. Favors,  privileges,  and  honors  were  in  his 
hand.  The  way  to  fortune  passed  by  his  door. 
The  bond  of  unity  between  the  peoples  and  the 
Emperor  was  personal,  and  hence  stronger  than 
that  between  them  and  Rome. 

But  the  Emperors  did  a  still  greater  service. 
They  brought  peace  with  all  its  blessings  to  a 
world  that  was  worn  out  with  wars.  The  acces- 
sion of  Augustus  marks  the  beginning  of  a  new  era 
of  commerce  and  travel.  The  pirates  who  had  in- 
fested the  Mediterranean  were  driven  from  the 
sea,  which  was  now  covered  by  fleets  of  freight, 
passenger,  and  mail  boats.  By  land,  the  many 
bands  of  brigands  and  robbers,  while  not  entirely 
destroyed,  were  greatly  checked  in  their  depreda- 
tions. Travelers  then  had  little  more  to  fear  from 
these  than  the  traveler  of  to-day  in  those  parts ; 
certainly  much  less  than  the  traveler  of  fifty  years 


THE  CONDITION  OF  THE  WORLD.  9 

ago.  The  Emperors  made  constant  war  on  them, 
and  stationed  troops  in  all  the  dangerous  parts  of 
the  empire  for  the  protection  of  those  who  passed 
that  way.  They  built  magnificent  roads,  which  cov- 
ered the  empire  like  a  net.  For  state  purposes, 
Augustus  established  a  regular  postal  service 
throughout  the  empire.  Wagons  and  horses  for 
hire  were  everywhere  to  be  had.  Hotels,  though 
not  luxurious,  and  restaurants  were  to  be  found 
conveniently  located  along  these  roads.  Commerce 
flourished,  and  people  traveled  as  never  before. 
We  know  of  one  merchant  who  made  the  sea  voy- 
age from  Asia  Minor  to  Rome  seventy-two  times. 
There  was  an  immense  amount  of  travel;  every- 
where one  fell  in  with  merchants  and  tradesmen, 
professors  and  students,  tourists  and  pilgrims,  phy- 
sicians and  quacks,  painters  and  sculptors,  actors, 
athletes,  and  musicians.  The  rich  inhabitants  of 
the  cities  sought  the  mountains  or  the  sea  in  sum- 
mer, and  the  sick  went  to  the  baths  then  as  now. 

The  advantages  of  this  state  of  things,  which 
was  brought  about  by  the  Emperors,  are  evident. 
In  one  word,  Christianity  could  travel.  The 
national  barriers  were  gone.  Roads  led  in  all 
directions.  There  was  a  constant  flux  and  flow  of 
people  to  and  from  every  quarter.  Missionaries 
could  go  to  all  lands  in  safety.  And  under  these 
circumstances  Christianity  could  easily  and  quickly 
reach  the  utmost  parts  of  the  empire. 

Of  even  greater  significance  is  the  fact  that  the 
world  had  a  universal  language.  Greece  surpassed 


10     HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

all  other  nations  in  her  literature  and  art,  philoso- 
phy and  science,  industry  and  commerce ;  but  one 
gift  was  denied  her,  the  art  of  government.  She 
never  could  unite  her  provinces  under  one  govern- 
ment. The  personal  sense,  the  sense  of  individu- 
ality, and  the  desire  to  make  this  individuality  felt 
by  others,  were  so  strong  in  her  sons  that  they 
were  incapable  of  harmonious  action  and  could 
never  be  brought  together  into  one  great  state.  It 
was  this  characteristic  that  caused  the  supremacy 
in  Europe  to  pass  into  the  hands  of  the  Romans. 
But  Greece  sent  out  numberless  bands  of  colonists, 
and  her  merchants  were  in  all  the  market-places  in 
the  world.  Greek  cities  and  communities  sprang 
up  in  the  midst  of  other  peoples.  Every  city  had 
a  great  number  of  Greek  inhabitants,  and  commerce 
was  largely  controlled  by  them.  They  had  taken 
their  language  with  them,  and  at  this  time  Greek 
was  understood  and  spoken  with  more  or  less 
fluency  from  Spain  to  the  valley  of  the  Euphrates. 
Even  in  Rome,  Greek  was  almost  as  much  in  use 
as  Latin. 

What  a  help  for  the  missionary !  Wherever  he 
went,  he  would  find  those  who  could  understand  his 
message.  It  was  not  necessary  that  he  first  spend 
months,  or  perhaps  years,  in  learning  their  lan- 
guage. The  rapid  evangelization  of  the  world  was 
possible  because  there  was  a  universal  language. 
How  true  this  is  can  be  seen  in  the  fact  that  Greek 
became,  as  it  were,  the  official  language  of  Chris- 
tianity. All  the  writings  of  the  New  Testament 


THE  CONDITION  OF  THE  WORLD.          11 

were  composed  in  Greek,  and  for  two  hundred 
years  all  who  wrote  for  the  Christian  public  used 
the  Greek,  and  not  the  Latin. 

It  would  require  a  volume  properly  to  describe 
the  social  condition  of  the  Roman  Empire.  From 
one  point  of  view  there  were  three  classes,  the  no- 
bility, the  people  proper,  and  slaves.  In  the  second 
class  there  were  the  greatest  contrasts  and  extremes. 
The  large  majority  were  sunk  in  abject  poverty. 
They  had  no  influence,  no  possessions,  no  position, 
and  no  prospect  of  ever  being  treated  as  anything 
but  ciphers  by  the  great  ones  of  this  world.  They 
could  never  hope  to  be  recognized  as  individual 
human  beings,  with  peculiar  personal  rights  and 
dignity  which  made  them  the  equal  in  worth,  if 
not  in  worldly  honor,  of  even  the  highest.  The 
third  class,  the  slaves,  formed  a  large  per  cent  of 
the  whole  population,  and  their  condition  was  most 
wretched.  They  were  wholly  in  the  hands  of  their 
masters.  They  were  mere  chattels,  not  persons, 
and  before  the  law  they  were  without  rights.  It 
is  hard  for  us  to  imagine  with  what  joy  such  as 
these  would  receive  the  good  news  of  a  kingdom  in 
which  all  should  be  brethren,  and  each  should 
count  one  and  only  one,  no  matter  what  his  birth 
or  condition. 

Two  things  had  helped  to  develop  an  extensive 
club  life  among  the  people.  First,  the  need  of 
mutual  help  in  times  of  distress,  sickness,  and 
death  ;  and  second,  the  innate  desire  of  every  one 
to  be  a  member  of  some  circle,  however  small,  in 


12     HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

which  he  has  equal  rights  with  all  others.  Chris- 
tianity appealed  to  them  in  both  ways,  for  it  ap- 
peared to  them  as  a  brotherhood  in  which  all  were 
equal,  and  the  words  "  mine  "  and  "  thine  "  meant 
the  same  thing,  at  least  in  all  times  of  need. 

It  is  natural  to  think  that  in  those  times  there 
must  have  been  great  dearth  of  reading  matter 
and  little  literary  activity.  But  the  names  of  the 
authors  of  the  first  century  would  make  a  long  list. 
There  was  no  printing-press,  to  be  sure,  but  slaves 
did  its  work,  and  books  were  quickly  and  inexpen- 
sively made.  Every  publisher  kept  a  large  num- 
ber of  slaves  who  were  trained  penmen,  and  to 
these  the  work  which  was  to  be  published  was  dic- 
tated. As  one  read,  hundreds  wrote ;  and  when 
the  reader  had  finished  there  were  so  many  hun- 
dreds of  copies  ready  to  be  put  on  the  market.  The 
book  trade  throughout  the  empire  was  large  and 
important.  There  were  many  publishing  houses, 
bookstores,  and  public  libraries  in  the  cities.  In 
proportion  there  must  have  been  as  large  a  read- 
ing public  then  as  now.  The  public  libraries  were 
visited  by  great  numbers.  New  works  by  promi- 
nent authors  were  anxiously  awaited,  eagerly  read, 
and  quickly  sent  to  the  farthest  provinces.  Nor 
must  we  suppose  that  books  were  expensive.  They 
were  not  so  large  as  books  now  are,  but  many  vol- 
umes were  to  be  had  at  prices  ranging  from  ten 
cents  to  one  dollar,  according  to  size  and  binding. 

In  philosophy  it  was  a  period  of  decadence  in 
one  respect,  of  progress  in  another.  Of  decadence, 


THE  CONDITION  OF  THE  WORLD.          13 

for  the  strict  scientific  method  of  the  first  philoso- 
phers was  no  longer  in  use.  Close  argumentation 
and  reasoning  had  given  way  to  fanciful  allegor- 
izing. They  sought  not  valid  proofs,  not  cause  and 
effect,  not  essential  characteristics,  but  fancied  or 
accidental  resemblances  or  differences.  The  prog- 
ress consisted  in  this :  philosophy  had  been  spec- 
ulative, it  was  becoming  practical  and  religious. 
Instead  of  dealing  with  speculative  problems,  it 
was  beginning  to  look  upon  morals  and  conduct  as 
its  proper  field  of  inquiry  and  instruction.  It  was 
its  business  to  tell  people,  not  how  to  think,  but 
how  to  live.  Philosophy  had  once  said,  "  You  must 
know  the  truth ; "  she  was  now  beginning  to  say, 
"  You  must  live  the  truth."  She  was  beginning  to 
emphasize  conduct  instead  of  knowledge,  the  heart 
instead  of  the  head.  It  was  knowledge  that  had 
robbed  death  of  its  terrors  for  the  older  philoso- 
phers ;  now  it  was  the  consciousness  of  a  well  spent 
life,  of  duty  done.  We  are  in  a  period  half  way 
between  Platonism,  which  was  a  philosophy,  and 
Neo-Platonism,  which  was  a  religion.  The  change 
may  be  seen  in  this:  philosophy  had  at  first  meant 
speculation,  it  came  to  mean  asceticism.  The  real 
worth  and  dignity  of  man  were  seen  to  consist  in 
his  moral  and  religious  character. 

The  religious  and  moral  sense  was  improving. 
The  ago  of  Cicero  was  godless  and  sneering.  The 
priests,  conscious  of  the  deceit  they  were  practi- 
cing, exchanged  knowing  looks  as  they  met  in  the 
streets.  It  was  fashionable  to  laugh  at  the  gods 


14     HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

and  make  jokes  about  them.  But  an  upward 
movement  was  beginning  which  was  at  the  same 
time  a  reaction  toward  monotheism.  A  finer, 
higher  conception  of  God  and  his  relations  to  men 
was  beginning  to  prevail,  as  is  shown  in  the  saying 
of  Aratus  quoted  by  Paul,  Acts  xvii.  28,  "  For  we 
are  also  his  offspring ; "  and  in  that  of  Epictetus, 
that  God  is  the  father  of  all  men,  and  hence  they 
are  brothers,  and  brotherly  love  ought  to  prevail 
among  them.  These  are  the  words  of  a  heathen 
slave,  but  they  contain  the  fundamental  teaching 
of  Christianity. 

The  progress  in  humanity,  morals,  and  religion 
is  further  seen  in  the  change  of  attitude  toward 
slavery.  Plato  had  not  condemned  it.  Aristotle 
had  thought  it  necessary,  and  in  accordance  with 
the  natural  order  of  things,  that  some  should  be 
slaves  and  be  treated  as  property.  But  Seneca 
gave  expression  to  the  Christian  thought  that  slaves, 
although  socially  beneath  us,  ought  to  be  treated 
as  our  fellow-men,  since  before  God,  who  is  over 
all,  we  are  their  fellow-slaves.  The  immortality 
of  the  soul,  although  it  could  not  be  proven,  was  by 
many  confidently  believed,  because  the  great  Plato 
had  taught  it,  and  their  instincts  and  feelings  told 
them  it  was  true.  And  Christianity,  as  the  perfect 
ethical  religion,  with  its  confident  affirmation  of  the 
existence  of  the  one  true,  loving  and  forgiving 
God,  and  the  promise  of  an  endless  life  after  death, 
appealed  to  this  improved  moral  and  religious 
sense  with  great  power. 


THE  CONDITION  OF  THE  WORLD.  15 

But  let  us  look  at  some  of  the  difficulties  in  the 
way  of  Christianity.  In  the  first  place,  heathenism 
was  the  official  religion  of  the  empire.  In  the 
fullest  sense  of  the  word,  Rome  had  a  state  reli- 
gion, idolatrous  practices  of  which  were  in  the 
most  intricate  way  woven  into  the  web  of  every- 
day life.  Every  public  or  state  transaction  was  at 
the  same  time  a  religious  act,  and  had  a  fixed  ritual 
or  form,  which  in  the  eyes  of  all  Christians  must 
appear  idolatrous.  The  Romans  were  in  one  sense 
of  the  word  very  religious.  By  every  act  they  re- 
membered their  gods  and  offered  a  sacrifice,  how- 
ever small.  With  buying,  selling,  visiting,  marry- 
ing, going  to  law,  making  a  will,  with  births  and 
deaths,  with  everything,  in  fact,  there  was  con- 
nected some  rite  that  would  prevent  Christians 
from  participation.  As  citizens  and  neighbors,  the 
Christians  could  perform  neither  their  civil  nor 
their  social  duties.  It  was  this  that  so  enraged  the 
heathen,  for  it  seemed  to  them  that  such  conduct 
of  the  Christians  could  have  but  one  result  —  the 
offended  gods  would  send  punishment  on  the  whole 
land.  The  Christians  were  "atheists,"  because 
they  despised  the  gods.  And  all  public  misfor- 
tunes, such  as  the  failure  of  the  crops,  drouth, 
floods,  pests,  storms,  earthquakes,  and  the  like, 
were  laid  at  their  door ;  for  all  these  were  expres- 
sions of  the  anger  of  the  gods.  Hence  persecutions 
were  the  necessary  consequence. 

Again,  the  Romans  were  hostile  to  Eastern  re- 
ligions. They  tolerated  them,  indeed,  in  the  East, 


16     HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

but  forbade  their  spread  in  the  West.  Judaism 
was  the  only  exception.  But  Christianity  was  an 
Eastern  religion.  So  long  as  it  was  regarded  as 
a  Jewish  sect,  it  was  tolerated;  but  when  it  be- 
came independent  of  Judaism  and  was  seen  to 
be  making  converts  for  itself  and  in  its  own  name, 
it  was  in  that  very  moment  proscribed,  and  to  be 
a  Christian  was  in  the  eyes  of  the  law  to  be  a 
criminal. 

Christianity  met  a  powerful  enemy  in  the  new 
and  universal  religion  that  had  just  been  invented. 
This  was  Emperor  worship.  In  the  days  of  the 
republic,  the  Romans  had  deified  their  city.  Ac- 
cording to  Roman  modes  of  thought,  everything  of 
value  had  a  "  genius "  that  presided  over  it.  So 
temples  were  erected  and  sacrifices  offered  to  the 
genius  of  Rome.  When  Augustus  became  Em- 
peror, the  same  process  of  reasoning  led  them  to 
deify  him.  To  his  Genius  also  temples  were  built, 
altars  set  up,  sacrifices  appointed,  and  a  ritual  fixed. 
His  statues  were  everywhere,  and  to  refuse  to  sac- 
rifice before  one  of  them  was  to  be  guilty  of  high 
treason,  which  was  of  course  punishable  with  death. 
Christians  were  every  day  brought  into  contact 
with  this  practice,  and  as  they  had  to  refuse,  perse- 
cution was  the  necessary  result.  This  soon  came 
to  be  the  test  in  all  trials  of  Christians.  They 
were  placed  before  a  statue  of  the  Emperor,  and  if 
they  sacrificed  they  were  set  free ;  but  if  they  re- 
fused, they  were  at  once  condemned  to  death. 

Polytheism  required  only  a  ritual,  not  morals. 


THE  CONDITION  OF  THE  WORLD.  17 

The  dignity  and  glory  of  the  gods  consisted  not  in 
their  moral  character,  and  they  made  no  moral 
demands  of  their  worshipers.  If  the  morals  of 
the  gods  themselves  would  not  bear  close  inspec- 
tion, it  was  not  to  be  expected  that  they  would 
trouble  themselves  about  the  conduct  of  their 
worshipers.  Worship  did  not  imply  any  bond  of 
moral  union  between  the  god  and  his  worshiper. 
So  it  was  customary  to  go  to  the  temple  of  a  god, 
to  sacrifice,  and  to  be  initiated  into  his  mysteries, 
and  that  was  the  end  of  it.  The  god  could  expect 
nothing  more  from  his  worshiper,  and  if  he  had 
anything  to  give,  the  worshiper  had  done  all  in 
his  power  to  obtain  it.  Further  connection  be- 
tween the  two  was  not  necessary.  It  naturally 
follows  that  there  could  be  no  bond  of  union,  no 
"  fellowship  "  among  the  worshipers ;  they  were 
not  gathered  into  congregations  and  bound  to- 
gether and  to  their  god  by  bonds  of  love. 

The  worship  of  one  god  did  not  exclude  that  of 
others.  On  the  contrary,  if  it  was  good  to  sacrifice 
to  one  god,  it  was  twice  as  good  to  sacrifice  to  two. 
If  one  wished  to  be  perfectly  sure,  one  had  to  sac- 
rifice to  as  many  gods  as  possible.  It  was  like 
taking  out  an  insurance  policy  in  many  companies. 
And  so,  like  Pausanias,  the  greatest  religious  tramp 
of  the  world,  the  people  went  from  one  temple  to 
another,  offering  this  external  service,  while  their 
lives  were  uninfluenced.  That  the  true  God  is 
jealous  of  the  affections  of  his  worshipers,  that 
there  must  be  a  lasting  union  between  Him  and 


18     HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

them,  that  they  should  be  one  with  Him  in  will, 
love,  and  character,  all  this  was  foreign  to  their 
thoughts.  And  so  there  was  great  danger  that  the 
heathen  would  regard  Jesus  as  another  god  to  be 
added  to  their  list,  and  would  look  on  baptism  and 
the  Lord's  Supper  as  the  mysteries  into  which  they 
must  be  initiated,  and  that  that  was  all  that  could 
be  required  of  them ;  that  they  would  not  under- 
stand that  they  had  been  made  sons  of  God  and 
brethren  one  of  another,  and  that  these  new  rela- 
tions required  a  new  manner  of  life.  It  was  this 
that  made  it  necessary  for  the  author  of  the  He- 
brews to  write,  "  not  forsaking  the  assembling  of 
ourselves  together,  as  the  custom  of  some  is " 
(Heb.  x.  25). 

Further,  it  was  an  age  of  uncertainty  and  doubt 
in  religion,  and  hence  superstitious.  The  people 
listened  to  any  one  who  claimed  to  be  a  messenger 
from  the  gods.  That  led  to  quackery  in  religion. 
There  were  false  priests  and  prophets  everywhere, 
making  money  by  imposing  on  the  credulity  of  the 
people  by  their  tricks  and  deceptions.  Christianity 
was  sure  to  be  abused  and  corrupted  in  the  same 
way,  for  it  offered  a  fine  field  for  the  operations  of 
quacks  and  impostors,  whose  sole  aim  was  gain  and 
self  glory.1 

1  Cf.  Simon  Magus,  Acts  viii. ;  Elymas,  Acts  xiii. ;  "  strolling 
Jews,"  Acts  xix. ;  The  Didache,  ch.  xi.-xiii. ;  Lucian,  Peregri- 
nus  Proteus. 


CHAPTER    H. 

THE   EXPANSION    OF   JUDAISM.1 

FROM  another  quarter,  the  world  received  a 
preparation  without  which  the  great  and  rapid 
success  of  Christianity  would  have  been  impossible. 
Of  all  ancient  religions,  Judaism  as  represented  by 
the  Prophets  was  incomparably  the  best.  No  other 
religion  had  such  a  conception  of  God,  his  lofty 
and  upright  character,  his  majesty,  his  compas- 
sion, his  fatherly  love  for  men,  his  mercy,  and  at 
the  same  time,  of  the  high  demands  for  holy  living 
which  He  made  on  all  who  would  be  his  people 
and  enjoy  his  protection.  But  this  high  concep- 
tion of  God  was  confined  to  one  little  people,  inhab- 
iting a  small  province  and  having  little  communi- 
cation with  the  rest  of  the  world.  More  than  that, 
their  foreign  intercourse  was  so  restricted  by  the 
many  levitical  rules  and  regulations  that  their  re- 
ligious influence  on  other  nations  was  practically 
nothing.  Everywhere  else  there  was  polytheism, 
varying  in  grade  from  its  finest  and  noblest  forms 
to  the  crassest,  most  degraded,  and  degrading. 
What  advantage  was  it  to  the  world  that  the  Jews 

1  See  also  Schiirer's  work,  The  History  of  the  Jews  in  the  Time 

of  Christ. 


20     HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

had  a  better  religion,  since  the  levitical  law  was 
a  barrier  that  prevented  all  communication  ?  It 
looked  as  if  the  heathen  were  to  be  excluded  from 
having  any  share  in  the  religious  truth  in  which 
Israel  was  so  rich.  The  heirs  of  the  Prophets  were 
by  no  means  inclined  to  share  their  holy  inheritance 
with  the  unclean  heathen  about  them. 

But  there  can  be  no  lasting  monopoly  in  truth. 
Deep  and  wide  as  was  the  gulf  that  separated  the 
heathen  from  the  Jews,  it  could  be  bridged.  In 
spite  of  the  separation,  many  means  of  contact  and 
channels  of  communication  could  be  found.  This 
leads  us  to  the  study  of  one  of  the  most  interest- 
ing and  important  subjects,  the  Jews  in  the  Dia- 
spora. 

Abraham,  their  great  forefather,  was  himself  a 
wanderer,  and  in  this  respect  he  had  many  imitators 
among  his  children.  For  centuries  the  Jews  had 
been  spreading  beyond  Palestine.  A  constant 
stream  of  emigrants  was  overflowing  its  boundaries 
in  all  directions.  At  this  time  there  was  scarcely 
a  city  in  all  the  world  that  did  not  have  Jews 
among  its  inhabitants.  There  were  great  numbers 
of  them  in  the  lands  of  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates. 
Asia  Minor  was  overrun  by  them.  Alexandria  in 
Egypt  was  divided  into  five  districts  or  wards,  two 
of  which  were  occupied  by  the  Jews.  In  the  Nile 
Delta,  it  was  estimated  that  there  were  more  than 
a  million  Jews.  Along  the  coast  of  North  Africa 
they  were  everywhere  at  home.  The  towns  and 
cities  of  Macedonia  and  Greece  contained  Jewish 


THE  EXPANSION  OF  JUDAISM.  21 

colonies.  In  Rome  there  were  probably  thirty 
thousand  of  them.  The  Jew  was  ubiquitous. 

But  in  their  wanderings  and  long  residence  in 
foreign  lands  they  had  undergone  a  most  important 
change.  If  a  paradox  be  allowed,  they  were  not 
only  Jews,  they  had  also  become  Greeks,  and  con- 
sequently were  neither  Jews  nor  Greeks.  They 
produced  a  new  culture,  a  new  civilization,  com- 
posed of  the  best  elements  of  Judaism  and  of 
Hellenism.  The  civilization  of  the  Jews  was  in 
many  respects  very  narrow  and  limited,  but  in 
others  lofty  and  imposing.  Its  ideal  was  the 
knowledge  and  perfect  observance  of  the  law  of 
God  as  contained  in  the  Old  Testament.  It  was 
monotheistic  and  intensely  religious.  The  Greek 
civilization  was  far  wider  and  more  varied.  It 
was  great  in  science,  literature,  and  art.  Its  type 
was  not  religious  and  moral,  but  intellectual  and 
aesthetic.  This  new  Hellenistic  civilization  was  a 
union  of  the  two.  It  got  its  religion  from  Judaism, 
its  philosophy  and  its  learning  from  the  Greeks. 

These  Hellenistic  Jews  had  no  thought  of  becom- 
ing anything  else  than  Jews.  They  were  not  sen- 
sible of  any  change.  They  did  not  feel  that  there 
was  any  difference  between  them  and  their  brethren 
in  Palestine.  They  kept  up  their  connection  with 
the  Holy  Land.  Every  year  thousands  of  them 
made  pilgrimages  to  Jerusalem,  which  still  re- 
mained for  them  the  holy  city,  the  only  place  where 
they  could  acceptably  offer  sari-ifice.  They  regu- 
larly sent  their  yearly  contributions  to  the  temple, 


22     HISTOEY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

and,  whenever  it  was  possible,  they  went  in  person 
to  attend  one  of  the  yearly  feasts.  Besides  this 
they  took  their  law  with  them,  and  wherever  they 
went,  they  met  every  Sabbath  to  study  it.  Wher- 
ever there  were  Jews,  there  was  a  synagogue.  So 
by  all  these  means  they  kept  in  touch  with  their 
brethren  and  the  traditions  of  their  fathers. 

On  the  other  hand,  they  lived  among  heathen, 
and  were  compelled  to  associate  more  or  less  inti- 
mately with  them.  They  were  brought  into  close 
daily  contact  with  those  who  were  their  superiors 
in  refinement  and  culture.  The  Jewish  mind  has 
always  shown  a  good  deal  of  alertness  and  recep- 
tivity. And  it  was  impossible  that  they  should 
remain  insensible  to  all  the  beauties  of  the  culture 
about  them.  Especially  the  fine  speculations  and 
teachings  of  the  philosophers  attracted  them,  for 
they  seemed  to  be  in  harmony  with  their  scriptures, 
and  even,  indeed,  to  express  the  same  truths  seen 
from  a  different  point  of  view. 

They  held  to  the  truth  of  their  religion ;  they 
tried  to  keep  the  law,  but  it  was  impossible  for 
them  to  remain  Pharisees.  They  honored  their 
father  Abraham,  and  their  lawgiver  Moses.  But 
they  came  into  contact  with  people  who  had  not 
Abraham  for  their  father,  and  were  ignorant  of 
the  law  of  Moses,  and  yet  possessed  much  truth, 
were  virtuous  and  upright,  pursued  noble  ends, 
and  lived  blameless  lives.  A  problem  was  thrust 
on  them  which  they  had  to  solve.  Will  these  good 
people  be  excluded  from  the  kingdom  of  God  sim- 


THE  EXPANSION  OF  JUDAISM.  23 

ply  because  they  are  not  Jews  ?  Their  good  sense 
in  the  end  gave  them  the  answer.  It  led  them  to 
distinguish  between  the  truth,  and  the  form  in 
which  the  truth  was  expressed.  Not  the  letter  of 
the  law  was  the  important  thing,  but  the  religions 
and  moral  truth  which  it  taught.  To  be  a  son  of 
Abraham  was  a  good  thing,  but  truly  to  fear  and 
honor  God  was  far  better.  To  observe  the  Mosaic 
distinctions  of  clean  and  unclean  was  important, 
but  the  necessary  thing  was  to  preserve  a  clean 
heart  and  live  a  pure  life.  In  other  words,  here 
was  a  liberal  movement  among  the  Jews  in  the 
Diaspora  which  was  entirely  different  from  the 
Phariseeism  of  Palestine,  and  it  need  hardly  be 
added,  much  superior  to  it ;  for  it  was  a  movement 
from  the  letter  to  the  spirit,  from  the  form  to  the 
content,  from  a  religion  of  rites  and  ceremonies  to 
a  religion  of  the  heart. 

One  of  the  most  imposing  things  in  Jewish  liter- 
ature is  the  unshaken  confidence  that  they  have 
the  one  true  God,  who  will  not  tolerate  the  worship 
of  anything  else.  They  learned  this  with  great 
difficulty,  but  they  learned  it  well,  and  it  has  been 
to  them  a  source  of  unlimited  strength  which  cen- 
turies of  persecution  and  oppression  have  not  ex- 
hausted. While  appreciating  the  good  that  existed 
among  the  heathen,  they  never  ceased  to  abomi- 
nate their  idolatry.  Their  zeal  for  God  led  them 
to  become  missionaries  to  the  heathen  about  them. 
We  do  not  think  of  the  Jews  as  a  missionary  peo- 
ple, but  they  have  had  a  most  interesting  mission- 


24    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

ary  period.  For  some  centuries  Judaism  made 
earnest  efforts  to  become  a  universal  religion,  to 
convert  the  world.  But  she  was  finally  driven  from 
the  mission  field  by  Christianity,  which  proved 
to  be  a  too  powerful  rival ;  and  at  the  same  time 
Judaism  drew  back  from  the  freer  movement  and 
settled  down  into  a  rigid,  legal  orthodoxy.  In  other 
words,  Phariseeism  prevailed  over  Hellenism. 

The  Judaism  of  Palestine  was  never  attractive 
to  the  heathen,  and  hence  was  not  a  good  mission- 
ary religion.  To  the  heathen,  many  things  in  it 
were  laughable,  others  offensive.  Their  refusal  to 
eat  swine's  flesh  .led  Juvenal  to  speak  of  Palestine 
as  the  land  "  where  the  long  practiced  clemency  al- 
lowed the  hogs  to  reach  a  ripe  old  age."  They  ob- 
served the  Sabbath,  it  was  said,  because  they  were 
lazy  and  wished  to  shirk  work.  Since  they  had 
no  statues  in  their  temples  or  synagogues,  they 
were  charged  with  the  foolishness  of  worshiping 
the  clouds.  Above  all,  the  heathen  were  offended 
that  the  Jews  assumed  a  superiority  and  refused  to 
associate  with  them  because  they  were  levitically 
unclean.  So  for  many  reasons  the  Jews  were  de- 
spised and  even  hated. 

It  would  seem,  then,  that  the  Jew  could  hope  for 
little  success  in  his  missionary  efforts.  But  it  must 
be  remembered  that  the  Jews  in  the  Diaspora  were 
the  real  missionaries,  and  that  they  were  already 
undergoing  a  radical  change  in  their  attitude  to 
the  ceremonial  law.  Consequently  their  desire  to 
make  converts  led  them  to  present  only  the  most 


THE  EXPANSION  OF  JUDAISM.  25 

attractive  features  of  Judaism  to  the  consideration 
of  their  hearers.  They  took  from  the  old  Testa- 
ment a  few  great  ideas,  the  essentials  of  their  reli- 
gion, and  laid  all  emphasis  on  these. 

In  the  first  place,  they  held  strongly  to  the  truth 
that  there  is  but  one  God.  They  thereby  intro- 
duced into  the  natural  world,  into  history,  and 
into  religion,  the  principle  of  unity.  The  heathen 
thought  of  the  world  as  the  playground  of  mali- 
cious gods  and  spirits,  which  were  lying  in  wait 
for  an  opportunity  to  play  some  mad  prank  in  the 
realm  of  nature,  cross  the  plans  and  purposes  of 
some  other  god,  or  inflict  an  injury  on  some  un- 
suspecting and  helpless  mortal.  To  the  thoughtful 
heathen  it  was  a  great  relief  to  learn  that  there  is 
but  one  all-wise  and  powerful  God,  who  has  made 
and  controls  the  universe. 

And  then,  the  lofty  conception  of  God  which 
they  presented  was  attractive.  He  was  so  great 
and  majestic,  so  high  and  spiritual,  that  it  was 
an  offense  even  to  try  to  represent  Him  by  any- 
thing material.  No  picture  or  statue  was  allowed ; 
such  things  could  only  hinder  and  not  help  the 
mind  in  its  attempt  to  conceive  of  Him  and  his 
greatness. 

They  made  much  of  the  doctrine  of  rewards  and 
punishments  in  a  future  state.  This  God,  so  just 
and  holy,  is  interested  in  his  creatures,  and  will 
reward  or  punish  each  according  to  his  life.  The 
upright,  the  pure,  and  noble  will  receive  at  his 
hand  the  rewards  for  their  conduct,  while  to  the 


26     HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHUBCH. 

wicked  will  be  meted  out  the  just  punishments  for 
their  disregard  of  his  holy  will. 

One  of  the  commonest  and  deepest  feelings  of 
the  human  heart  is  the  sense  of  ill  desert  before 
God.  The  conscience  is  oppressed  and  burdened, 
and  longs  for  some  sure  way  of  conciliating  an  of- 
fended God.  The  soul  longs  for  certainty  in  reli- 
gious matters.  The  current  philosophy  of  the  day 
was  doing  much  to  awaken  and  deepen  this  sense 
of  sin.  People  felt  their  religious  needs  as  never 
before.  Of  all  ancient  religions,  Judaism  offered 
the  most  satisfying  symbolical  rites  and  ceremonies 
of  purification,  and  the  most  comforting  assurances 
of  the  merciful  and  forgiving  character  of  God.  In 
one  sense,  these  Jews  in  the  Diaspora  were  the 
true  successors  of  the  Prophets,  for  like  them  they 
disregarded  the  letter  of  the  law,  and  taught  that 
a  humble  and  penitent  heart  and  a  blameless,  help- 
ful life  are  what  God  requires. 

Of  the  personal,  individual  labors  of  these  mis- 
sionaries, their  conversations,  arguments,  exhorta- 
tions, and  pleadings,  we  know  almost  nothing,  for 
they  found  no  biographer.  But  of  their  burning 
zeal  and  far-reaching  activity  we  can  form  a  good 
estimate,  if  we  look  at  their  literary  productions. 
They  made  use  of  every  known  form  of  literature 
to  recommend  Judaism  and  make  its  teachings 
known.  For  three  centuries  they  produced  a  rich 
and  varied  Missionary  literature.  It  is  impossible 
to  describe  this  in  detail,  but  we  should  at  least 
take  a  brief  review  of  its  most  important  features. 


THE  EXPANSION  OF  JUDAISM.  27 

It  will  serve  the  double  purpose  of  showing  their 
missionary  zeal  and  the  change  which  Greek  in- 
fluences had  produced  among  them. 

They  translated  the  Old  Testament  from  Hebrew 
into  Greek.  That  was  by  no  means  simply  for 
the  benefit  of  the  Jews  themselves,  they  had  the 
heathen  also  in  view.  Just  as  the  Scriptures  are 
now  translated  into  various  languages  and  used 
as  means  of  advancing  the  missionary  work,  so  the 
Old  Testament  was  rendered  into  Greek  that  the 
heathen  might  more  easily  learn  the  religion  of 
Israel.  Some  expressions  that  would  be  offensive 
to  Greek  taste  and  conceptions  were  omitted  or 
altered,  and  various  changes  were  made,  all  of  which 
sprang  out  of  one  motive,  the  desire  to  make  their 
religion  more  attractive  to  the  heathen. 

To  further  the  same  purpose,  they  wrote  com- 
mentaries on  the  Scriptures,  explaining  them  in 
accordance  with  the  best  teachings  of  the  philoso- 
phers, and  to  please  the  Greek  taste.  They  did 
not  ask  what  the  literal  meaning  of  a  passage  is, 
but  by  the  allegorical  method  of  interpretation 
derived  from  it  whatever  teaching  they  desired. 
For  instance,  the  story  of  the  Creation  was  given 
in  philosophical  form.  The  command  to  abstain 
from  swine's  flesh,  it  was  said,  is  not  to  be  under- 
stood literally.  God  had  not  intended  that  it 
should  be,  but  He  had  meant  thereby  to  teach  that 
they  should  not  associate  with  those  that  are  like 
swine,  brutish  and  impure  in  character.  In  this 
way  they  got  rid  of  all  the  troublesome  commands 


28    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

in  the  ceremonial  law,  and  at  the  same  time  made 
it  appear  to  be  a  most  wise  and  ingenious  piece 
of  legislation,  an  inexhaustible  source  of  practical 
wisdom. 

Closely  akin  to  these  commentaries  were  their 
philosophical  works,  inasmuch  as  these  were  often 
based  on  some  section  of  Scripture,  or  at  least 
treated  the  Old  Testament  as  the  source  of  all  phi- 
losophy. The  same  allegorical  method  was  used, 
and  Moses  and  the  Prophets  were  made  to  appear  as 
the  true  philosophers,  with  whom  Plato,  Aristotle, 
and  the  others  agreed  in  so  far  as  these  latter  had 
uttered  the  truth.  In  this  way  the  first  place  and 
the  highest  honors  were  vindicated  to  Judaism. 
These  philosophical  works  all  have  this  character- 
istic, which  distinguishes  them  from  the  works  of 
the  Greek  philosophers,  namely  :  they  all  have  a 
practical,  moral,  and  religious  object  in  view.  The 
Greeks  pursued  knowledge  for  its  own  sake ;  the 
Jews,  for  the  influence  which  it  should  have  on 
the  character  and  life.  They  made  philosophy 
the  handmaid  of  religion,  for  it  was  its  function  to 
make  men  better,  to  help  them  to  a  truly  religious 
life. 

The  Jews  were  proud  of  their  history.  They 
believed  that  God's  hand  was  visible  in  it  all. 
Hence  it  was  inevitable  that  they  would  use  it  too 
for  missionary  purposes.  And  so  in  fact  we  find 
that  a  great  many  histories  of  the  Jews  were  writ- 
ten, in  all  of  which  there  is  a  more  or  less  pro- 
nounced Chauvinism.  They  all  pursued  the  same 


THE  EXPANSION  OF  JUDAISM.  29 

end,  the  glorification  of  Israel.  They  all  seek  to 
show  that  the  Jews  have  worshiped  the  true  God, 
who  has  cared  for  them  in  the  most  remarkable 
way,  and  therefore  they  have  played  a  great  role 
in  the  history  of  the  world.  As  a  nation,  they 
have  a  long  and  glorious  past,  because  they  stand 
in  an  intimate  relation  to  the  God  of  all  the  earth. 

Epic  poetry  and  the  drama  were  also  used  to  ac- 
quaint the  heathen  with  Judaism,  and  to  fill  them 
with  enthusiasm  for  Judaea's  history  and  religion. 
As  Homer  had  sung  of  Troy  and  her  fate,  so  Philo, 
the  epic  poet,  wrote  the  history  of  Jerusalem  and 
her  kings  in  the  form  of  a  great  epic  poem.  Still 
more  remarkable  is  the  fact  that  the  history  of 
Israel  was  dramatized.  Just  as  the  Greek  drama- 
tists had  chosen  some  great  and  decisive  event  in 
the  history  of  their  country  for  the  subject  of  their 
greatest  dramas,  and  thereby  held  up  their  history 
for  the  admiration  of  the  world,  so  the  Jews  com- 
peted for  praise  and  honor  for  their  land  by  pre- 
senting its  history  in  the  same  fascinating  way. 
We  have  fragments  of  one  of  these  plays,  called 
"  The  Exodus,"  as  its  name  indicates  a  dramatiza- 
tion of  the  biblical  story  of  the  Exodus  from  Egypt. 
Thus  even  the  theatre  was  compelled  to  assist  in 
the  missionary  work  of  the  Jews. 

But  they  found  opponents  who  attacked  them 
and  made  many  severe  charges  against  them.  This 
shows  that  these  missionary  efforts  were  so  strong 
and  persistent  that  the  heathen  found  it  necessary 
to  defend  themselves  and  their  religion,  which  they 


30    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

did  by  attacking  the  Jews.  These  attacks  must 
be  resisted,  and  so  we  find  Jewish  apologists  writ- 
ing in  defense  of  their  religion  and  people,  and  re- 
futing at  great  length  all  the  charges  made  against 
them.  Two  of  these  are  especially  worthy  of  no- 
tice. The  Jews  were  charged  with  being  a  mod- 
ern people,  without  a  history,  and  consequently 
they  had  contributed  nothing  to  the  civilization 
of  the  world.  To  disprove  these  charges  they  put 
forth  the  most  strenuous  efforts.  They  sought  for 
proofs  from  every  quarter  to  show  that  they  were 
as  old  as  any  of  the  peoples  then  existing.  And 
they  did  not  hesitate  to  declare  that  the  Jews  had 
been  the  source  of  all  culture  and  civilization. 
Abraham  had  taught  the  Egyptians  astrology ;  Jo- 
seph had  introduced  a  new  system  of  irrigation  and 
agriculture  ;  Moses  was  the  real  father  of  all  learn- 
ing, for  he  was  the  first  great  philosopher,  had  in- 
vented the  alphabet,  and  written  the  Pentateuch, 
which  was  the  greatest  of  all  philosophical  works. 
He  had  lived  long  before  any  of  the  great  men  of 
the  Greeks,  who  had  derived  all  their  knowledge 
from  him  without  giving  him  the  proper  credit. 

Not  content  with  all  these  efforts,  they  even 
made  use  of  forgeries  to  increase  the  reputation 
and  authority  of  their  religion.  The  Sibyls  were 
mysterious  prophetesses  that  were  held  in  great 
reverence  by  the  heathen.  It  was  very  shrewd  on 
the  part  of  the  Jewish  missionaries  to  make  use 
of  the  name  of  the  Sibyl  to  propagate  the  Jewish 
faith,  for  anything  that  she  might  utter  would  at 


THE  EXPANSION  OF  JUDAISM.  31 

once  receive  the  most  ready  credence.  So  in  the 
second  century  B.  €.,  we  find  that  some  pious  Jew 
wrote  a  book  which  purported  to  be  the  work  of  a 
Sibyl.  In  the  prologue  she  was  made  to  say  that 
she  was  a  daughter  of  Noah,  that  she  had  been  with 
him  in  the  ark  at  the  time  of  the  flood,  that  she  had 
then  come  from  Babylon,  and  that  the  Greeks  had 
given  her  a  false  name.  She  then  foretells  the  glo- 
ries of  Solomon's  kingdom,  and  really  gives  in  the 
form  of  a  prophecy  the  history  of  the  Jews,  Greeks, 
and  Romans  down  to  about  the  year  140  B.  c.  In 
all  this  the  Jews  are  represented  as  the  people  of 
God,  to  whom  is  promised  the  Messiah,  and  all  the 
other  nations  are  threatened  with  destruction  unless 
they  repent  and  join  the  Jews  in  the  worship  of 
God.  These  prophecies  of  the  Sibyls  were  widely 
read,  and  undoubtedly  had  great  influence.  Virgil 
and  Tacitus  had  read  them,  and  made  use  of  them 
in  their  writings.  Under  the  names  of  the  great- 
est Greek  poets  and  philosophers,  Jewish  writers 
also  forged  poems  and  histories,  in  which  these  are 
made  to  teach  the  purest  Jewish  doctrines  and 
sound  forth  the  praises  of  the  true  people  of  God. 
This  is  certainly  enough  to  show  that  the  Jews 
were  tremendously  in  earnest  in  their  efforts  to 
convert  the  world.  Such  a  varied  and  eager  mis- 
sionary activity  will  compare  favorably  with  that 
of  any  other  religion.  They  bid  high  for  popular 
favor,  and  left  no  stone  unturned  to  reach  the 
heathen  masses.  Their  efforts  were  not  without 
success.  The  influence  of  the  Jews  on  the  heathen 


32    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

world  was  far  greater  than  has  generally  been  sup- 
posed. Many  heathen  became  proselytes.  They 
were  circumcised,  observed  the  whole  law,  and 
lived  entirely  as  Jews.  These  were  called  "  prose- 
lytes of  righteousness."  A  far  larger  number,  how- 
ever, were  influenced  by  their  religious  teachings, 
yet  hesitated  to  take  this  important  step.  They 
were  willing  to  observe  some  of  the  law,  but  in 
its  entirety  it  was  too  exacting  and  burdensome. 
Many  of  these  observed  the  Sabbath  and  some  of 
the  requirements  in  regard  to  meats,  and  with  this 
the  Jews  seem  to  have  been  satisfied.  These  were 
called  "  God  fearing  "  or  "  devout." J 

There  were  also  many  that  were  influenced  by 
the  teachings  of  the  Jews,  although  they  refused 
to  accept  any  of  these  burdensome  and  inconven- 
ient restrictions.  They  learned  much  from  the 
Jews.  We  might  even  say  they  got  the  true  reli- 
gion from  them.  They  were  careful  to  receive  the 
truth  and  to  frame  their  lives  in  accordance  with 
it.  But  the  ceremonial  part  of  Judaism  was  repel- 
lent to  them,  and,  furthermore,  they  saw  that  it 
was  not  necessary. 

From  what  has  been  said  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
influence  of  the  Jews  on  the  heathen  was  great 
and  good,  converting  many  of  them  wholly  to  a 

1  These  and  similar  phrases  were  used  to  designate  this  class. 
Thus  Cornelius,  Acts  x.  2,  is  called  a  "  devout  man  and  one  that 
feared  God."  Cf.  Acts  xiii.  50,  "the  devout  women;"  xvi.  14, 
"  one  that  feared  God."  These  were  not  called  "  proselytes  of 
the  gate  ;  "  this  phrase  was  applied  simply  to  heathen  who  lived 
in  Palestine. 


TUE  EXPANSION  OF  JUDAISM.  33 

high  type  of  Judaism,  and  giving  many  others 
a  better  knowledge  of  God  and  of  his  character. 
Every  synagogue  was  as  a  light  set  in  a  dark 
place,  and  about  each  of  these  were  gathered  many 
heathen  seeking  the  truth,  and  worshiping  with 
more  or  less  purity  the  God  of  Israel.  The  scatter- 
ing of  the  Jews  throughout  all  lands  was  in  this 
way  a  blessing;  for  they  were  instrumental  in 
spreading  abroad  a  higher  conception  of  God  and 
purer  moral  standards,  thus  helping  on  the  reli- 
gious education  and  development  of  the  world,  and 
preparing  it  for  the  reception  of  Christianity. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   SPREAD   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

WHATEVER  the  purpose  of  the  author  of  the  so- 
called  "  Acts  of  the  Apostles  "  was,  it  may  be  re- 
garded as  a  sketch  of  the  first  thirty  years  of  Chris- 
tian missions.  If  that  really  was  the  author's  aim, 
he  did  not  follow  it  closely,  and  has  consequently 
failed  to  tell  us  many  things  that  we  would  wish 
to  know.  He  has  given  us  a  good  deal  of  informa- 
tion and  many  hints  about  the  spread  of  Christian- 
ity, which  we  may  put  together,  but  still  we  shall 
be  far  from  knowing  all  about  it.  It  is  impossible, 
indeed,  to  answer  all  the  questions  that  present 
themselves,  because  our  sources  of  information  are 
so  meagre. 

In  general,  we  know  that  for  some  years  Chris- 
tianity appeared  very  much  as  a  Jewish  sect,  con- 
fined strictly  to  the  Jews.  Its  followers  had  no 
thought  of  leaving  the  Jewish  fold,  but  rather  ex- 
pected that  all  the  Gentiles  should  become  Jews 
in  order  to  have  a  part  in  the  Messiah's  kingdom 
which  they  were  establishing.  But  Christianity 
was  stronger  than  its  followers.  It  had  such  expan- 
sive power  that  it  was  not  to  be  hemmed  in.  And 
so  in  spite  of  its  adherents  it  broke  off  the  fetters 


THE  SPREAD  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  35 

of  the  ceremonial  law,  freed  itself  from  all  that 
was  peculiarly  national,  and  asserted  its  indepen- 
dence. Greek  Jews  preached  the  new  gospel  to 
heathen  who  accepted  it  as  something  complete  in 
itself,  needing  nothing  from  Judaism  and  the  cere- 
monial law.  A  Christian  society  was  formed  in 
Antioch,  in  which  heathen  and  Jew  associated  as 
brethren,  apparently  without  ceremonial  distinc- 
tions. From  this  time,  Christianity  spread  rapidly 
under  two  forms.  The  one,  Jewish  Christianity, 
in  which  circumcision  and  the  observance  of  some 
parts  of  the  law  were  required  of  the  heathen ; 
the  other,  after  the  model  of  the  church  at  Antioch, 
free  from  all  legal  observances  and  distinctions. 
It  spread  with  amazing  rapidity  throughout  Pales- 
tine and  the  neighboring  countries  of  Asia  Minor. 
By  the  year  50,  it  was  in  Rome.  Before  60,  it  was 
said  in  popular  hyperbole  to  be  preached  all  over 
the  inhabited  world.  Before  100,  it  was  well  estab- 
lished in  almost  all  the  principal  cities  of  the  Em- 
pire, had  attracted  the  attention  of  Emperors  and 
their  governors,  had  endured  sharp  local  persecu- 
tions, and  was  rapidly  increasing  its  already  large 
and  enthusiastic  following. 

Here  is  more  than  a  half  century  of  magnifi- 
cently successful  mission  work.  But  what  do  we 
know  about  the  missionaries  and  the  details  of 
their  work  ?  Unfortunately,  very  little.  The  rec- 
ords of  it  are  very  scant.  There  were  no  Boards 
to  control  the  work,  send  out  missionaries,  publish 
reports,  open  up  new  stations,  make  great  plans, 


36     HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

and  appeal  for  money  to  carry  on  the  work.  There 
were  no  Missionary  Journals,  and  no  societies  that 
were  proud  to  publish  the  record  of  their  successes. 
No  one  wrote  the  biography  of  the  missionaries,  or 
compiled  the  history  of  the  missions.  We  have 
not  even  a  list  of  the  names  of  the  missionaries. 
It  was  for  us,  for  the  most  part,  a  nameless  mul- 
titude that  went  everywhere  preaching  Jesus  and 
his  resurrection. 

Let  us  follow  out  the  various  lines  as  indicated 
in  the  Acts,  and  in  the  Epistles  which  contain  any- 
thing that  bears  on  this  subject.  According  to 
the  Acts,  the  Twelve  are  represented  as  spending 
several  years  preaching  and  teaching  in  Jerusalem. 
Even  when  the  persecution  came,  it  was  only  the 
brethren  that  were  scattered  :  in  some  way  un* 
known  to  us,  the  Twelve  were  able  to  remain  there. 
Strange  as  it  may  seem,  for  eight  or  ten  years  they 
seem  to  have  confined  their  personal  labors  wholly 
to  Jerusalem.  Here  they  would  meet  the  multi- 
tudes that  came  to  the  feasts,  and  in  so  great  a  city 
they  would  probably  have  ample  opportunity  for 
mission  work.  And  yet,  if  Christ  had  told  them 
to  go  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  to 
every  creature,  to  make  disciples  of  all  the  nations, 
their  conduct  must  seem  somewhat  strange.  Since 
they  remained  so  long  in  the  Jewish  capital,  and 
confined  themselves  to  working  among  the  Jews, 
they  must  still  have  thought  of  the  Messiah's  king- 
dom as  Jewish,  and  its  success  dependent,  first  of 
all,  on  the  recognition  of  the  messianic  claims  of 


THE  SPREAD  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  37 

Jesus  by  the  whole  nation.  This  kingdom  was  to 
them  still  a  political,  national  one.  It  is  morally 
certain  that  Christianity  had  gone  beyond  the  walls 
of  Jerusalem.  That,  however,  was  not  brought 
about  by  the  efforts  of  the  Twelve,  but  rather  by 
those  who  had  come  to  some  feast  and  had  gone 
away  believing  in  Jesus,  and  carrying  the  news  of 
the  Messiah  to  those  who,  less  fortunate  than  them- 
selves, had  not  been  able  to  go  to  Jerusalem. 

The  first  notice  of  any  preaching  outside  of 
Jerusalem  is  given  in  connection  with  the  death  of 
Stephen.  A  persecution  arose  and  "  They  were  all 
scattered  abroad  throughout  the  regions  of  Judaea 
and  Samaria,"  "  and  went  about  preaching  the 
word  "  (Acts  viii.  1-4).  The  persecution  which  was 
intended  to  destroy  the  heresy  only  helped  to  spread 
it  more  widely  and  rapidly.  Driven  from  their 
homes,  they  seem  to  have  gone  forth  joyfully,  find- 
ing consolation  in  the  message  which  they  carried. 
Some  of  them  seem  to  have  devoted  themselves 
wholly  to  this  mission  work.  It  is  difficult  for  us 
to  appreciate  the  greatness  of  this.  It  is  always 
easier  to  follow  where  others  have  gone  before  and 
marked  out  the  way,  than  to  strike  out  a  new  path 
for  ourselves.  How  great  must  have  been  the  im- 
pulse from  within,  how  strong  the  consciousness  of 
the  possession  of  truth,  to  push  these  men  and  wo- 
men out  as  pioneers  in  the  work  of  spreading  the 
good  news  of  the  Messiah  !  They  traveled  as  far 
as  the  island  of  Cyprus,  and  into  the  land  of  Phos- 
nicia,  and  reached  Antioch.  From  Acts  ix.  19 


38     HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

and  31,  we  learn  incidentally  that  there  were 
Christians  in  Damascus,  and  in  Judaea,  Galilee,  and 
Samaria ;  but  nothing  is  said  about  how  the  gospel 
was  brought  to  them.  Like  most  of  the  mission 
work  of  this  whole  period,  it  is,  for  us,  anonymous. 
We  know  almost  none  of  the  details  of  the  found- 
ing of  churches  in  those  parts.  We  have  a  short 
sketch  of  Philip's  labors,  which  may  perhaps  serve 
as  a  sample  of  the  work  done,  but  this  by  no  means 
covers  the  whole  ground. 

Two  things  about  this  work  must  be  noted,  for 
they  are  of  the  utmost  importance  in  forming  a 
correct  idea  of  Christianity  as  it  was  understood 
by  its  earliest  adherents,  and  especially  by  the 
Twelve.  The  first  of  these  is  that  this  work  was 
done  by  the  rank  and  file  of  the  believers.  The 
Twelve  did  not  even  lead  in  it.  There  is  no  indi- 
cation that  they  had  anything  whatever  to  do  with 
it.  How  far  they  were  influenced  by  the  idea  of 
a  kingdom  with  Jerusalem  as  its  capital  in  which 
they  were  to  be  the  men  of  honor  and  power,  it  is 
now  impossible  to  say.  But  it  is  certainly  signifi- 
cant that  they  all  remained  so  long  in  Jerusalem, 
which  as  the  Jewish  capital  must  of  course  be- 
come the  capital  of  the  new  kingdom.  They  seem 
after  a  while  to  have  gone  out  to  oversee  and  pass 
judgment  on  the  work  done  by  others,  but  it  is  not 
until  long  after  the  others  had  broken  the  way  and 
had  met  with  unexpected  and  extraordinary  suc- 
cess that  we  find  the  Twelve  following  the  same 
method. 


THE  SPREAD  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  39 

The  second  thing  is,  that  the  gospel  for  so  long 
a  time  was  preached  only  to  Jews.  They  seem  not 
to  have  thought  it  possible  to  separate  Christianity 
from  Judaism,  the  gospel  from  Jewish  forms. 
They  preached  a  Jewish  Messiah,  and  for  the  Jews. 
They  had  no  message  for  the  heathen,  except  as 
they  should  become  Jews  by  accepting  the  law 
with  all  its  obligations.  Everything  goes  to  show 
that  they  regarded  themselves  simply  as  Jews  who 
believed  that  Jesus  was  the  Messiah.  They  might 
properly  be  called  a  Jewish  sect. 

Then  come  indications  of  a  change.  We  have 
a  transition  period,  in  which  Christianity  seems 
to  be  feeling  its  way  out  into  the  world.  It  was 
a  period  in  which  there  was  some  sporadic  mis- 
sion work  among  the  heathen ;  this,  however,  met 
with  opposition  from  the  Christians  in  Jerusalem. 
The  old  bottles  were  to  them  just  as  valuable  as 
the  new  wine,  for  without  them  it  seemed  that  the 
wine  could  not  possibly  exist. 

This  sporadic  work  among  the  heathen  began  in 
various  places  and  probably  about  the  same  time, 
but  again  we  know  very  little  about  the  details. 
Of  the  beginning  made  by  Paul,  we  know  only  that 
the  call  came  to  him  in  or  near  Damascus,  that  he 
obeyed  at  once,  and  went  into  Arabia,  and  then 
back  to  Damascus,  and  soon  afterwards  to  Cilicia. 
That,  however,  is  absolutely  all  that  we  know. 

We  have  a  long  account  of  how  Peter  was 
brought  to  preach  to  Cornelius,  who  was  still  a 
heathen,  although  he  feared  God.  He  was  one  of 


40     HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

those  who  had  been  brought  into  contact  with  Juda- 
ism, had  taken  its  teachings  without  its  forms,  and 
hence  is  called  a  "  devout  "  man.  This  was  at 
least  eight  or  ten  years  after  the  crucifixion,  and  yet 
Peter  was  the  first  of  the  Twelve  to  be  brought 
into  connection  with  the  heathen.  One  has  only 
to  read  this  account  in  order  to  see  how  thoroughly 
Jewish  they  still  were.  The  heathen  were  for 
them  the  common  and  unclean,  with  whom  they 
could  have  absolutely  no  association.  Peter  was 
still  so  far  from  understanding  the  real  character 
of  the  gospel  that  it  required  a  great  deal  of  su- 
pernatural machinery  to  bring  him  to  preach  to 
a  heathen.  He  himself  was  surprised  at  the  result 
of  his  preaching.  The  same  extraordinary  mani- 
festations occurred  here  in  the  case  of  the  heathen 
as  had  already  taken  place  among  the  Jewish  Chris- 
tians. They  received  the  Holy  Spirit.  But  the 
Christians  at  Jerusalem  were  by  no  means  pleased 
with  Peter's  conduct,  for  when  he  returned  they 
rebuked  him  sharply  for  having  associated  with 
the  uncircumcised.  And  it  was  only  when  Peter 
had  told  them  the  whole  story,  and  showed  them 
that  God  had  made  no  difference  between  them  and 
the  Jews  who  believed,  that  they  were  quieted. 
We  shall  see  that  they  were  silenced  by  his  argu- 
ments, but  not  convinced. 

We  have  a  brief  account  of  another  beginning 
that  was  made  among  the  heathen.  Peter  seems 
to  have  gone  no  further  along  the  new  line  of  work 
opened  before  him  in  so  mysterious  a  way.  His 


THE  SPREAD  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  41 

Jewish  surroundings  were  too  strong  for  him,  and 
he  drew  back  and  remained  the  Apostle  of  the  cir- 
cumcision. If  the  mission  to  the  Gentiles  had 
depended  on  the  Twelve,  the  Gentiles  would  have 
waited  long  and  perhaps  in  vain.  The  honor  of 
carrying  them  the  gospel  must  be  awarded  to 
others,  and  not  to  the  Twelve.  According  to  Acts 
xi.  19-21,  it  belongs  to  some  men  of  Cyprus  and 
Gyrene,  who  had  taken  up  the  mission  work  in 
earnest.  These,  after  traveling  through  Phreni- 
cia  and  Cyprus,  had  come  to  Antioch,  but  preach- 
ing only  to  Jews.  The  important  change  was  made 
in  Antioch,  for  it  was  here  that  they  began  to 
preach  also  to  the  Greeks.  They  met  with  great  and 
unexpected  success,  for  many  believed  and  turned 
to  the  Lord.  Under  the  influence  of  a  fresh  en- 
thusiasm, born  of  the  consciousness  of  great  and 
new  spiritual  possessions,  Jews  and  Greeks  united 
here  and  associated  as  brethren.  Ceremonial  dis- 
tinctions were  forgotten,  they  seem  to  have  fallen 
away  of  themselves.  It  is  difficult  for  us  to  real- 
ize what  a  revolution  that  was.  How  powerfully 
Christianity  must  have  taken  hold  of  the  hearts  of 
these  Jews,  since  they  were  able  to  break,  at  once 
and  without  pain,  with  all  the  strongest  and  dear- 
est traditions  of  their  lives. 

The  church  at  Jerusalem,  it  is  said,  heard  of 
this,  and  sent  Barnabas  down  to  Antioch  to  see 
what  they  were  doing.  He  understood  the  situ- 
ation at  once.  He  saw  that  Christianity  among 
the  heathen  was  a  success.  He  recognized  that  in 


42     HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHUECH. 

that  great  city  there  was  a  fine  field  for  work,  and 
that  there  was  need  of  an  able  man  to  carry  it  on. 
So  he  went  to  Tarsus  to  fetch  Paul,  who  had  now 
for  some  years  been  working  there.  Undoubtedly 
Barnabas  knew  of  his  work  and  felt  that  he  was 
the  man  for  the  place.  From  this  time  on  we  have 
Paul  as  the  most  able  representative  and  defender 
of  this  mission  work  among  the  heathen.  The 
truth  is  proclaimed  that  the  gospel  is  for  all  who 
believe  in  Jesus  as  the  Messiah. 

Again  it  must  be  noted  that  this  was  probably 
ten  or  twelve  years  after  the  death  of  Jesus.  In  all 
this  time  only  one  of  the  Twelve  had  come  into 
contact  with  the  heathen,  and  he  had  been  op- 
posed by  some  of  the  Christians  at  Jerusalem.  In 
these  twelve  years  there  had  been  no  spontaneous 
movement  on  the  part  of  the  Twelve  and  of  the 
mother  church  at  Jerusalem  toward  the  heathen. 
They  had  not  comprehended  Christianity  in  its 
freedom  and  universality.  They  were  not  at  all 
committed  to  the  universal  proclamation  of  the 
gospel.  "  Laymen "  had  begun  the  work  among 
the  heathen,  the  Twelve  had  only  reluctantly  fol- 
lowed. They  had  not  inaugurated  the  new  move- 
ment. 

Every  idea  that  is  to  become  universal  and 
overcome  all  opposition  must  have  a  leader  who 
will  in  a  sense  be  its  personification.  In  him  it 
will  come  to  its  full  self-consciousness.  He  will 
give  it  a  fixed  form  and  the  best  statement  possi- 
ble. Such  a  leader  must  be  a  man  of  genius,  of 


TEE  SPREAD  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  43 

broad  culture,  and  of  consecration.  He  must  make 
it  the  one  work  of  his  life  to  bring  all  the  world  to 
accept  his  truth.  And  that  is  what  Paul  was 'to 
this  new  and  liberal  movement  in  Christianity. 
He  was  the  embodiment  of  the  idea  of  the  univer- 
salism  and  freedom  of  the  gospel.  He  saw  that 
it  was  for  all,  both  Jew  and  Gentile,  regardless  of 
race  or  ritual.  He  perceived  that  Judaism  had 
done  its  work,  and  was  now  superseded  by  some- 
thing higher  and  better. 

Like  all  new  and  liberal  movements,  this  was 
sure  to  be  opposed.  Hence  it  had  to  have  a  home. 
It  could  not  live  "  in  the  air."  It  needed  a  strong- 
hold, a  place  where  it  could  establish  and  develop 
itself  independently  of  all  opposition.  It  must  have 
a  kind  of  headquarters  for  carrying  on  the  work 
of  propagating  itself.  And  this  is  what  Antioch 
was  to  the  young  Gentile  Christian  church.  Over 
against  the  mother  church  at  Jerusalem,  whose 
members  were  now  and  for  many  years  to  come 
"  zealous  for  the  law,"  we  have  another  mother 
church  of  the  Gentile  Christians  at  Antioch.  It 
was  planted  by  laymen,  and  trained  by  Paul  and 
Barnabas.  The  character  of  its  teachers,  its  rapid 
growth,  its  location  in  a  great  and  busy  city,  and 
its  distance  from  Jerusalem,  all  made  it  impossible 
for  the  Jewish  mother  church  to  control  its  devel- 
opment. Some  of  the  most  important  questions 
that  arose  in  the  early  church  were  first  agitated 
and  settled  in  this  congregation. 

Antioch  was  the  third  city  in  size  and  importance 


44     HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

in  the  world.  It  was  cosmopolitan  in  character. 
It  had  great  wealth,  and  was  noted  for  its  com- 
merce, schools,  literature,  and  general  culture.  It 
was  there  that  Christianity  really  made  its  first  bow 
before  the  heathen  public  and  entered  as  a  great 
fact  and  factor  on  the  stage  of  the  world's  develop- 
ment and  civilization.  By  establishing  itself  in 
Antioch,  Christianity  challenged  the  attention  of 
all  classes,  and  it  had  there  far  wider  opportunities 
than  at  Jerusalem.  It  was  there  that  Christianity 
really  broke  with  Judaism  and  came  to  its  full  self- 
consciousness.  It  was  no  longer  a  part  of  Judaism, 
a  kind  of  appendage  or  complement  to  it,  but  sep- 
arate and  independent.  "  The  disciples  were  called 
Christians  first  in  Antioch  "  (Acts  xi.  26).  The 
people  saw  that  they  were  not  merely  a  Jewish 
sect.  "  Christian  "  was  probably  a  nickname,  but 
it  was  a  good  one,  for  it  indicated  the  position 
which  Jesus  occupied  in  their  thought  and  speech. 
Their  distinguishing  characteristic  was  that  they 
believed  that  Jesus  was  the  Christ. 

Antioch  became  the  centre  of  a  great  missionary 
activity.  Until  about  51,  Paul  seems  to  have  been 
connected  more  or  less  closely  with  this  congrega- 
tion, beginning  and  ending  his  missionary  travels 
there.  According  to  Acts  xiii.  1  ff.,  Autioch  may 
be  regarded  as  the  home  of  foreign  missions,  for  it 
was  here  that  they  received  their  first  great  impulse. 
Conscious  of  itself,  its  powers,  and  its  purpose, 
Christianity  began  its  conquest  of  the  world  at 
Antioch.  From  this  time  on,  there  is  systematic 


THE  SPREAD  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  45 

evangelization  of  the  heathen.  The  principle  is 
recognized  that  the  gospel  of  Jesus  needs  nothing 
from  Judaism  to  make  it  complete.  The  door  into 
the  Messiah's  kingdom  is  open  to  all,  and  it  is  not 
necessary  to  pass  through  Judaism  to  reach  it.  The 
law  had  been  but  the  preparation  for  Christianity. 
It  was  not  of  itself  holy.  It  had  done  its  work,  and 
hence  was  no  longer  binding. 

That  seems  to  us  a  very  simple  truth,  but  it  was 
a  staggering  and  incomprehensible  doctrine  to  the 
Jews  and  Jewish  Christians.  When  we  remember 
that  they  were  brought  up  to  regard  the  law  and 
the  temple  as  the  most  holy  objects  on  earth,  we 
are  not  surprised  that  they  refused  to  listen  to  it. 
For  them,  Christianity  was  but  the  complement  of 
Judaism.  They  could  not  believe  that  Christian- 
ity was  to  displace  it.  So  from  this  time,  we  have 
two  lines  of  missionary  work,  —  the  one,  Jewish 
Christian,  confining  itself  largely  to  the  Jews,  or 
at  least  requiring  the  heathen  to  observe  a  part  of 
the  Mosaic  law ;  the  other,  entirely  free  from  all 
such  burdensome  requirements  ;  Jews  and  Gentiles 
meeting  together  on  an  equal  footing,  and  regard- 
ing each  other  as  brethren  and  fellow-citizens  in 
the  new  kingdom  of  God. 

Of  this  Jewish  Christian  mission  work,  we  know 
very  little  except  that  it  existed.  Up  to  the  year 
51,  Peter  had  undoubtedly  been  working  along 
this  line ;  for  in  Gal.  ii.  7,  Paul  says  that  the  "  pil- 
lars "  in  the  church  at  Jerusalem  recognized  that 
Paid  had  been  intrusted  with  the  gospel  to  the 


46      HISTOBY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

Gentiles,  as  Peter  with  that  to  the  Jews.  But 
when  we  ask  where  Peter  had  labored  and  with 
what  success,  we  get  for  an  answer  only  a  few 
vague  notices  of  his  work.  From  Acts  ix.  32  ff., 
wet  learn  that  "  as  Peter  went  throughout  all  parts  " 
he  came  to  Lydda  and  Joppa,  and  from  there  went 
to  Caesarea.  And  we  find  him  very  soon  again  in 
Jerusalem,  whence  he  was  compelled  to  go  "  to  an- 
other place,"  because  of  the  persecution  of  Herod 
(Acts  xii.  17).  This  was  in  the  year  44.  Six  years 
later  he  was  again  in  Jerusalem.  Soon  after  we 
learn  that  he  was  in  Antioch,  where  he  began  to 
associate  with  the  Gentile  Christians.  From  this 
time  he  seems  to  have  entered  a  wider  mission  field 
and  to  have  traveled  as  a  missionary  among  the 
heathen,  imitating  Paul  and  Barnabas. 

In  relating  the  agreement  that  was  made  between 
the  "  pillar "  apostles  and  himself  and  Barnabas, 
Paul  says  that  James  and  Peter  and  John  gave 
them  the  right  hand  of  fellowship  that  "  we  should 
go  unto  the  Gentiles  and  they  unto  the  circumcision." 
That  implies  that  John  and  James  also  engaged  in 
this  mission  work,  but  we  have  not  the  slightest 
notice  of  their  travels. 

In  speaking  of  his  meeting  with  the  apostles  at 
Jerusalem  in  the  year  50  or  51,  Paul  mentions 
only  Peter  and  John  of  the  Twelve.  James  the 
brother  of  John  was  already  dead,  having  suffered 
martyrdom  in  the  year  44.  But  where  were  the 
other  nine?  We  have  not  the  slightest  information 
about  them.  We  can  only  say  that  it  is  probable 


THE  SPREAD  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  47 

that  they  were  engaged  in  work,  perhaps  in  Pales- 
tine, or  among  the  Jews  in  the  East,  or  Paul  may 
have  mentioned  only  the  three  that  were  the  most 
prominent.  They  may,  indeed,  have  been  in  Jeru- 
salem at  that  time,  but  it  is  more  probable  that 
they  were  not.  From  1  Cor.  ix.  5  we  may  cer- 
tainly infer  that  at  least  some  of  the  disciples  as 
well  as  some  of  the  brothers  of  Jesus  were  at  that 
time  (about  56  or  57)  traveling  as  missionaries,  but 
still  there  is  no  hint  as  to  where  they  were.  That 
this  mission  had  been  very  successful  we  learn  from 
Acts  xxi.  20,  where  it  is  said  that  thousands  of  the 
Jews  believed,  and  that  they  were  all  still  zealous 
for  the  law.  It  is  clear,  then,  that  this  type  of 
Christianity  actually  spread  among  the  Jews  in 
Palestine  and  perhaps  in  the  East,  but  we  are  left 
without  much  definite  information  about  it. 

We  get  more  light  from  Paul's  letters  to  the 
Galatians  and  to  the  Corinthians.  From  these  we 
learn  that  at  least  one  branch  of  these  Jewish  Chris- 
tians had  entered  the  field  as  determined  and  out- 
spoken opponents  of  Paul  and  the  free  gospel  which 
he  was  preaching.  They  had  begun  to  undo  his  work 
by  carrying  on  a  most  vigorous  propagation  of  the 
law  in  the  free  Gentile  congregations  which  he  had 
founded.  At  first,  they  met  with  success,  but  Paul 
vigorously  defended  himself  and  his  doctrine,  and 
in  the  end  was  victorious. 

We  are  much  better  informed  about  a  part  of 
the  work  among  the  Gentiles,  but  even  here  we 
get  only  glimpses  of  the  work  and  of  the  workers ; 


48      HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHUECH. 

for  of  all  that  engaged  in  this,  only  one  group  is 
well  known.  The  head  and  leader  of  this  was  Paul. 
He  gathered  about  him  a  large  number  of  young 
missionaries  who  worked  with  him  and  for  him, 
serving  him  as  special  messengers  and  helpers.  By 
means  of  these  he  kept  in  touch  with  his  various 
congregations,  and  through  their  labors  he  became 
the  spiritual  father  of  many  other  churches,  for 
they  all  followed  his  principles  and  preached  his 
gospel.  A  long  list  of  these  might  be  made.  There 
were  Timothy  and  Titus,  Erastus  and  Silas,  Sopa- 
ter,  Aristarchus,  Secundus  and  Gaius,  Tychicus  and 
Trophimus.  Luke  and  Mark  were  with  him  at  least 
a  part  of  the  time.  In  all  his  letters,  we  find  others 
mentioned  incidentally  in  such  a  way  as  to  show 
that  they  were  also  engaged  with  him  in  the  work. 

Aquila  and  Priscilla  also  formed  a  part  of  this 
circle  of  Paul's  friends  and  helpers,  at  least  for 
a  time.  They  labored  with  him  in  Corinth  and  in 
Ephesus,  but  afterwards  returned  to  Rome  where 
they  continued  the  work,  although  independently 
of  Paul. 

In  this  connection  the  last  chapter  of  the  Epistle 
to  the  Romans  l  is  exceedingly  interesting,  for  it 

1  Many  learned  men  think  that  the  16th  chapter  of  Romans 
does  not  really  form  a  part  of  the  original  letter,  but  is  rather 
a  letter  of  introduction  for  Phoebe  to  the  church  at  Ephesus.  In 
support  of  this,  they  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  last  verse 
of  the  15th  chapter  really  forms  a  very  appropriate  ending  for 
the  letter.  Besides  this,  there  are  several  things  in  the  16th  chap- 
ter that  seem  to  point  to  the  church  at  Ephesus  rather  than  to 
that  of  Rome.  For  instance,  Aquila  and  Priscilla  had  recently 


THE  SPREAD  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  49 

gives  us  a  most  surprising  hint  of  the  remarkable 
activity  of  these  early  missionaries.  In  this  chap- 
ter Paul  greets  by  name  more  than  twenty  persons, 
most  of  whom  he  seems  to  have  known  personally. 
If  this  be  the  case,  he  must  have  made  their  ac- 
quaintance in  the  East,  for  at  this  time  Paul  had 
not  been  in  Rome.  Several  of  these  seem  to  have 
been  connected  with  him  in  the  work,  and  were 
united  to  him  by  the  closest  ties  of  friendship. 
Not  only  the  common  faith,  but  also  fellowship  in 
work  and  danger  had  bound  them  together.  Some 
of  them  he  greets  as  independent  missionaries  and 
evangelists  wljo  were  traveling  and  laboring  in  the 
interests  of  the  gospel.  This  chapter,  then,  gives 
us  a  most  interesting  glimpse  of  the  missionary 
activity  and  travel  of  the  period,  since  it  shows 
that  so  many  of  those  that  had  been  in  the  East 
were  now  in  Rome.  For  it  is  not  to  be  supposed 
that  we  have  here  the  names  of  all  that  were  en- 
gaged in  this  work.  In  fact,  we  know  that  these 
were  by  no  means  all  the  workers.  We  learn  of 
others  who  labored  entirely  independently  of  Paul 
and  his  company,  although  they  seem  to  have  fol- 

been  in  Ephesus,  and  there  is  no  hint  anywhere  else  that  they  had 
returned  to  Rome.  Epaenetus  is  called  "  the  first  fruits  of  Asia 
unto  Christ."  Then  they  say  that  it  is  impossible  that  Paul 
should  have  known  so  many  people  in  a  city  in  which  he  had 
never  been.  That,  however,  is  easily  explained  if  the  letter  were 
addressed  to  the  church  at  Ephesus  where  Paul  had  just  spent 
three  years.  But  Lightfoot  has  most  ably  refuted  these  argu- 
ments and  shown  that  there  is  really  nothing  in  the  way  of  accept- 
ing this  as  a  part  of  the  original  letter  written  by  Paul  to  the 
Romans. 


50      HISTOEY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

lowed  his  principles  rather  than  those  of  the  Jew- 
ish Christians.  Apollos,  a  learned  Jew  from  Alex- 
andria, at  least  as  early  as  the  year  54  began  this 
wandering  missionary  life,  but  not  as  a  member  of 
Paul's  party.  We  find  him  first  at  Ephesus.  From 
the  brethren  there  he  received  letters  of  introduc- 
tion to  the  brethren  in  Achaia,  and  he  must  have 
spent  some  time  in  Corinth.  But  when  Paul  wrote 
the  first  letter  to  the  Corinthians  he  was  again  in 
Asia.  Unfortunately,  it  is  impossible  to  follow  him 
further,  for  we  have  no  later  account  of  him. 

Barnabas  is  said  to  have  gone  with  Paul  on  the 
journey  to  Cyprus,  and  to  the  interior  of  Asia 
Minor,  an  account  of  which  is  given  in  Acts  xiii.- 
xiv.  But  afterwards  he  and  Paul  were  separated, 
and  each  went  his  own  way.  From  the  language 
of  Paul  in  1  Corinthians  ix.  5,  we  are  justified  in 
inferring  that  Barnabas  was  still,  that  is  about  the 
year  56  or  57,  traveling  as  an  apostle  among  the 
heathen,  but  of  his  work  and  success  we  know  ab- 
solutely nothing. 

Again,  in  Romans  xvi.  there  are  several  persons 
mentioned  who  seem  to  have  been  well  known  as 
missionaries  or  apostles,  but  who  had  not  in  any 
way  been  dependent  on  the  leading  or  example  of 
Paul.  He  speaks  of  Andronicus  and  Junias,  his  kins- 
men, who  because  of  their  labors  were  noted  apos- 
tles, and  if  they  had  not  preceded  Paul  in  the  work, 
they  had  at  least  been  earlier  brought  to  believe  in 
the  Messiahship  of  Jesus.  It  is  not  at  all  improb- 
able that  the  group  of  persons  named  in  the  four- 


THE  SPREAD  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  51 

teenth  verse  formed  a  band  of  missionaries  that 
traveled  together.  And  Apelles,  in  verse  10,  is 
spoken  of  as  one  whose  standing  is  secure  because 
of  his  successful  labors.  When  we  consider  that 
we  have  so  few  writings  that  serve  us  as  sources  of 
information  about  this  period,  we  conclude  that 
there  must  have  been  many  others  who  are  entirely 
unknown  to  us,  for  Christianity  spread  rapidly  and 
we  find  it  established  in  many  places  without  being 
able  to  tell  how  it  was  brought  thither.  This  ac- 
tivity was  so  great  as  to  fill  the  heathen  with  won- 
der. The  impression  which  it  was  making  on  them 
is  expressed  most  graphically  in  the  words  of  the 
leaders  of  the  mob  in  Thessalonica,  "  These  that 
have  turned  the  world  upside  down  are  come 
hither  also"  (Acts  xvii.  6). 

Christianity  was  early  established  in  Rome. 
The  only  notice  we  have  of  its  introduction  there 
is  in  the  work  of  a  heathen  writer.  Suetonius,  in 
his  "  Life  of  the  Emperor  Claudius,"  chapter  xxv., 
says  that  the  Emperor  expelled  the  Jews  from 
Rome  some  time  between  the  years  48  and  51 
A.  D.,  because  of  riotous  disturbances  among  them 
which  were  stirred  up  by  one  Chrestus.  It  is  gen- 
erally conceded  now  that  this  has  reference  to  the 
introduction  of  Christianity  among  the  Jews  there. 
We  know  from  other  sources  that  for  two  centu- 
ries or  more  the  name  of  Christ  was  commonly 
mispronounced  Chrestus  by  the  common  people 
and  the  Christians  were  called  Chrestians.  Sue- 
tonius was  a  heathen  who  had  not  come  into  direct 


52      HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHUECIL 

contact  with  these  troubles  among  the  Jews,  but 
was  dependent  on  others  for  his  information.  Be- 
ing ignorant  of  the  exact  details,  he  supposed  that 
Chrestus  was  the  real  leader  of  the  riots,  and  not 
the  one  about  whom  the  contention  was.  From 
this  passage,  then,  it  is  probable  that  Christianity 
had  already  made  a  beginning  in  Rome.  Some  of 
the  Jews  believed  and  were  laboring  for  the  con- 
version of  others.  But  as  in  so  many  other  places, 
this  met  with  opposition  which  led  to  violent  and 
riotous  demonstrations,  and  the  Emperor  forbade 
the  meeting  of  the  Jews,  thinking  that  thereby  the 
difficulty  would  be  overcome.  It  is  not  strictly 
true  that  the  Emperor  banished  the  Jews  from 
Rome.  He  seems  rather  to  have  forbidden  their 
meetings,  which,  in  its  practical  effects,  was  equiva- 
lent to  expelling  them.  This  edict,  however,  was 
not  long  enforced.  The  Jews  were  disturbed  by  it 
only  for  a  short  time. 

When  Paul  landed  as  a  prisoner  in  the  spring 
of  61  at  Puteoli  (now  Pozzuoli,  near  Naples),  he 
found  Christians  there  with  whom  he  spent  a 
week.  We  have  no  knowledge  of  how  long  this 
congregation  had  been  in  existence  or  who  had 
founded  it. 

Curious  and  interesting,  too,  is  an  inscription 
which  was  found  on  the  wall  of  a  house  in  Pompeii 
in  the  course  of  the  excavations  there,  only  a  part 
of  which  could  be  read.  The  gentlemen  engaged 
in  the  work  of  excavation  declared  that  the  letters 
HRISTIAN  could  be  made  out,  but  all  that 


TUE  SPREAD  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  53 

preceded  or  followed  was  too  indistinct  to  be  read. 
It  seems  that  the  only  letters  that  could  be  supplied 
would  be  G  at  the  beginning  and  U  S  or  I  at  the 
end.  If  that  be  true,  it  would  certainly  be  some 
reference  to  the  Christians,  and  we  would  be  jus- 
tified in  supposing  that  there  were  Christians  in 
Pompeii  at  the  time  of  its  destruction  in  the  year 
79  A.  D.  But  others  have  questioned  the  correct- 
ness of  those  who  first  read  the  inscription,  and 
claim  that  it  should  be  read  in  a  different  way. 
Unfortunately,  the  letters  soon  faded  after  being 
exposed  to  the  light,  and  hence  we  now  have  no 
means  of  determining  just  what  they  were. 

The  Jews  in  the  Diaspora  were  a  very  important 
factor  in  the  spread  of  Christianity.  They  had 
not  only  prepared  the  soil,  they  now  helped  to  sow 
the  seed.  As  has  been  said  they  were  everywhere, 
and  the  Roman  empire  was  covered  with  a  net- 
work of  synagogues  which,  by  means  of  the  numer- 
ous pilgrims,  were  in  constant  communication  with 
Jerusalem.  Anything  that  deeply  disturbed  or 
agitated  Jerusalem  would  surely  and  quickly  be 
felt  in  the  farthest  Jewish  communities  throughout 
the  empire.  And  so  when  Christianity  came,  it 
spread  along  these  lines  of  Jewish  travel  as  fire 
by  a  fuse.  Many  a  Jew  heard  of  Christ  and  be- 
lieved on  him  while  at  Jerusalem  as  had  the  "  men 
of  Cyprus  and  Cyrene  "  (Acts  xi.  20),  and,  like 
them,  returned  preaching  the  gospel  in  the  syna- 
gogues by  the  way.  The  service  which  these  syn- 
agogues rendered  in  the  spread  of  Christianity 


54      HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

is  incalculable.  It  was  not  necessary  for  such  a 
missionary  to  make  any  efforts  to  secure  a  place 
of  meeting  and  then  to  get  an  audience  together. 
These  were  already  at  hand  in  the  synagogue. 
Every  Sabbath  he  was  sure  to  find  there  a  band 
of  Jews  and  proselytes,  of  devout  and  inquiring 
heathen,  gathered  together  for  religious  instruc- 
tion. In  these  services,  strangers  were  generally 
invited  to  speak,  and  so  he  would,  without  any 
difficulty,  obtain  an  opportunity  of  telling  his 
message. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  know  what  classes 
were  reached  and  won  by  these  restless  and  eager 
missionaries.  We  can  answer  the  question  only  in 
a  general  way.  It  would  seem  from  all  the  scat- 
tered indications  that  the  majority  of  the  converts 
w^re  from  the  lower  and  poorer  classes.  This  is 
also  in  itself  very  probable,  for  these  classes  were 
by  far  the  most  numerous.  The  upper  classes,  the 
wealthy,  the  learned  and  literary,  seem  not  to  have 
taken  any  notice  of  Christianity  until  in  the  second 
century.  Perhaps  the  congregation  at  Corinth  was 
a  typical  one  in  its  make-up,  and  its  general  char- 
acter at  least  is  indicated  in  the  words  of  Paul : 
"  For  behold  your  calling,  brethren,  how  that  not 
many  wise  after  the  flesh,  not  many  mighty,  not 
many  noble"  (1  Corinthians  i.  26).  There  must 
have  been  many  slaves  among  the  first  converts, 
for  in  almost  every  letter  there  is  some  special  advice 
given  them.  They  are  admonished,  warned,  or  com- 
forted in  such  a  way  as  to  make  us  infer  that  they 


THE  SPREAD  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  55 

formed  a  large  part  of  the  various  congregations. 
And  yet  this  is  not  to  be  pressed  too  far,  for  there 
were  many  that  were  masters,  and  some  that  had 
houses  which  could  serve  as  meeting  places  for  the 
Christians.  There  were  some  that  were  able  to 
practice  hospitality,  whose  doors  were  open  to  all 
the  Christians  who  passed  their  way.  There  were 
some  that  were  able  to  contribute  largely  to  the 
funds  that  were  to  be  sent  to  the  poor  in  Jeru- 
salem. 

Again,  in  regard  to  this,  we  may  see  the  beneficial 
influence  of  the  Jews  in  the  Diaspora,  in  preparing 
the  way  for  the  gospel.  Through  their  missionary 
efforts  many  heathen  had  been  made  acquainted 
with  the  principal  truths  of  the  Old  Testament. 
As  all  these  were  more  or  less  closely  connected 
with  the  synagogues,  they  were  the  first  to  hear 
the  gospel.  We  have  many  indications  of  the 
deep  joy  with  which  these  heard  and  received  the 
gospel,  for  it  offered  them  more  than  Judaism 
could  give  them  and  without  any  of  the  burden- 
some regulations  which  hampered  them  in  Juda- 
ism. Undoubtedly,  most  of  the  converts  to  Chris- 
tianity for  many  years  had  already  been  under  the 
influence  of  Judaism.  Decisive  proof  of  this  is 
found  in  all  Paul's  letters,  for  although  they  were 
addressed  to  those  that  had  been  heathen,  they  all 
presuppose  a  considerable  knowledge  of  the  prin- 
ciples and  teachings  of  the  Old  Testament.  It  is 
also  confirmed  by  many  notices  in  the  Acts  of  the 
glad  and  ready  reception  of  the  gospel  by  the  prose- 


56      HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

lytes  and  the  devout  Greeks.  "  Herein  is  the  say- 
ing true,  one  soweth  and  another  reapeth.  I  sent 
you  to  reap  that  whereon  ye  have  not  labored  : 
others  have  labored  and  ye  are  entered  into  their 
labors"  (Johniv.  37  f.).  " 

Since,  in  general,  our  information  is  so  scanty, 
it  will  be  worth  our  while  to  look  more  closely  at 
some  of  the  incidental  notices  which  we  have. 
From  Paul's  letter  to  the  Philippians,  i.  13,  writ- 
ten about  the  year  62,  we  learn  that  Paul  had  made 
converts  among  the  soldiers  that  guarded  him. 
The  praetorian  guard  was  a  part  of  the  garrison  of 
Rome,  consisting  of  about  ten  thousand  men,  and 
to  these  Paul  had  been  intrusted  for  safe  keeping. 
Paul's  language  is  somewhat  rhetorical  and  hyper- 
bolical, and  it  would  be  rash  to  attempt  to  make 
any  estimate  of  the  number  of  those  who  had  be- 
come Christians.  So  much  is  clear,  however ;  Paul 
had  made  use  of  the  opportunities  offered  him  and 
had  preached  Christ  to  the  various  soldiers  that 
guarded  him,  so  that  even  his  captivity  had  re- 
sulted in  the  progress  of  the  gospel. 

At  the  end  of  this  same  letter  we  have  one  of 
those  peculiarly  interesting  salutations :  "  All  the 
saints  salute  you,  especially  they  that  are  of 
Caesar's  household."  Is  it  possible  that  some  mem- 
bers of  the  family  of  the  Emperor  Nero  were  Chris- 
tians ?  The  language  used  seems  not  to  allow  any 
other  interpretation.  But  the  word  "  household  " 
has  a  wider  meaning  when  applied  to  a  Roman 
family,  for  it  includes  also  all  the  slaves,  freedmen, 


THE  SPREAD  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  67 

hangers-on,  and  officers,  as  well  as  the  blood  rela- 
tives. If  we  combine  this  passage  with  Romans 
xvi.  10,  11,  we  are  able  to  find  out  something  more 
about  the  members  of  the  household  of  Caesar  who 
were  Christians :  "  Salute  them  that  are  of  the 
household  of  Aristobulus.  Salute  Herodion  my 
kinsman.  Salute  them  of  the  household  of  Narcis- 
sus which  are  in  the  Lord."  The  form  of  the  sal- 
utation indicates  that  Aristobulus  and  Narcissus 
belonged  to  the  wealthier  class,  and  we  are  inter- 
ested to  know  whether  we  have  any  other  source  of 
information  about  them.  It  is  not  said  here  that 
they  themselves  were  Christians,  but  only  some 
members  of  their  households. 

But  who  were  Aristobulus  and  Narcissus? 
Strangely  enough,  heathen  writers  tell  us  about 
an  Aristobulus  and  Narcissus  who  were  famous 
in  Rome  at  this  time.  Tacitus  (Annals,  xi.  29  ff. ; 
xii.  57 ;  xiii.  1)  tells  us  that  Narcissus,  once  a 
slave  of  the  Emperor  Claudius,  had  been  set  free 
and  served  his  former  master  in  the  capacity  of 
private  secretary.  He  is  said  to  have  had  great 
influence  over  the  Emperor.  He  had  made  use  of 
his  position  to  amass  great  wealth,  and  was  one  of 
the  most  important  and  influential  men  in  Rome. 
Aristobulus  was  a  grandson  of  Herod  the  Great, 
who  lived  mostly  in  Rome.  He  too  possessed  great 
influence,  because  of  his  friendships  and  his  im- 
mense wealth.  From  the  fact  that  Paul  greets  his 
"  kinsman  Herodion  "  in  direct  connection  with  the 
household  of  Aristobulus,  it  is  not  at  all  improba- 


58      HISTOEY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

ble  that  this  Herodion  was  a  member  of  his  family. 
At  the  time  that  Paul  wrote  this  letter,  it  is  proba- 
ble that  they  were  both  dead,  but  their  slaves  had 
passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Emperor  Nero,  and  it 
was  customary  for  such  persons  still  to  bear  the 
name  of  their  former  master. 

From  another  source  we  know  also  the  names  of 
two  more  members  of  this  congregation  at  Rome 
who  also  belonged  to  Caesar's  household.  About 
the  year  95,  the  peace  of  the  congregation  at 
Corinth  was  greatly  disturbed  by  internal  disputes 
and  strifes.  In  consequence  of  this,  the  congre- 
gation at  Rome  wrote  a  letter  to  the  church  at 
Corinth,  and  at  the  same  time  sent  two  old  men 
who  had  been  Christians  "  from  their  youth  up," 
men  of  upright  character  and  approved  wisdom, 
who  should  endeavor  to  settle  the  difficulties  in 
Corinth  and  restore  peace.  Their  names  are  also 
given  in  the  letter  as  Claudius  Ephebus  and  Vale- 
rius Bito.  The  name  Claudius  most  certainly  shows 
that  Ephebus  had  been  the  slave  of  the  Emperor 
Claudius,  and  as  Valerius  was  the  family  name  of 
his  wife,  Messalina,  Bito  had  as  certainly  been  her 
slave.  Since  they  were  now  old  men  and  had  been 
Christians  from  their  youth  up,  they  had  certainly 
seen  Paul,  and  were  members  of  the  congregation 
at  the  time  that  Paul  wrote  his  famous  letter  to  the 
Romans.  If  only  one  of  these  had  seen  fit  to  write 
his  own  biography,  how  thankful  we  should  have 
been  to  him ! 

These  all  belonged  to  the  family  of  the  Emperor, 


THE  SPREAD  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  59 

but  they  were  only  slaves.  Did  Christianity  go  no 
higher  in  the  social  scale  in  the  court  at  Rome  ? 
Or  were  there  Christians  among  the  nobility,  or 
perhaps  even  in  the  very  family  of  Nero  himself  ? 
Again  we  are  indebted  to  Tacitus  (Annals,  xiii.  32) 
for  a  bit  of  interesting  information.  The  wife  of 
the  great  Roman  General  Plautius,  who  conquered 
Britain,  was  named  Pomponia  Graecina.  About 
57  or  58  A.  D.  she  was  charged  with  being  a  con- 
vert to  a  foreign  superstition.  According  to  the 
Roman  custom,  her  husband  was  ordered  to  try  her 
on  this  charge.  We  have  no  account  of  the  trial, 
but  we  are  told  that  her  husband  pronounced  her 
innocent.  How  much  influence  his  heart  exercised 
on  his  judgment  we  cannot  tell,  but  probably  it  had 
much  to  do  with  her  exculpation.  For  in  spite  of 
the  fact  that  she  was  declared  innocent,  the  historian 
further  tells  us  that  the  lady  lived  in  retirement 
for  about  forty  years  after  this,  wholly  given  up  to 
a  gloomy  religion.  He  does  not  call  her  a  Chris- 
tian, but  his  language  is  very  like  that  used  in  de- 
scribing Christians,  who  were  compelled  to  live  in 
retirement,  shunning  all  society,  because  they  did 
not  wish  to  expose  themselves  to  censure.  They 
could  not  take  any  part  in  public  life  without  either 
engaging  in  idolatrous  practices,  or,  by  refusing  to 
do  so,  subjecting  themselves  to  criticism  and  per- 
secution. Certain  it  is,  at  any  rate,  that  some  of 
her  slaves  were  Christians,  for  their  burial  places 
have  been  discovered  in  the  Christian  Catacombs 
of  Rome. 


60      HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

But  Christianity  came  still  nearer  to  the  throne 
of  the  Caesars.  About  the  year  95,  the  Emperor 
Domitian  put  to  death  his  cousin,  the  Consul  Titus 
Flavius  Clemens,  on  the  charges  of  a  "  contempt- 
ible inactivity"  and  of  "atheism."  His  wife, 
Flavia  Domitilla,  was  at  the  same  time  and  for  the 
same  reasons  banished  to  an  island  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean. This  Domitilla  was,  beyond  all  peradven- 
ture,  a  Christian.  Her  name  is  inseparably  con- 
nected with  the  early  history  of  the  church  at 
Home.  One  of  the  many  Catacombs  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Rome  bears  her  name,  and  contains  the 
graves  of  many  of  her  slaves  and  followers  who 
also  became  Christians.  From  the  frequent  oc- 
currence of  the  names  Flavia  and  Flavius  in  the 
inscriptions  in  the  Catacombs,  many  members  of 
the  Flavian  family  must  have  become  Christians. 
Many  of  these  Christian  graves  are  undoubtedly 
from  the  first  century.  It  was  not  common  to  date 
the  inscriptions  on  the  graves,  but  we  have  at  least 
three  from  the  first  century  bearing  dates.  Chris- 
tianity had  a  strong  hold  in  Rome  before  the  year 
100.  Everything  that  we  know  of  Clemens  and 
Domitilla  goes  to  show  that  they  were  both  Chris- 
tians, for  these  charges  which  were  made  against 
them  are  the  same  that  were  made  against  the 
Christians.  They  had  to  refrain  from  any  share 
in  the  affairs  of  state,  and  consequently  they  were 
charged  with  indifference  to  the  state.  Our  duties 
as  citizens  sit  lightly  on  us,  but  the  Roman  re- 
garded his  duties  as  a  citizen  as  the  highest  and 


THE  SPREAD  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  61 

holiest  imaginable.  They  were  at  the  same  time 
religious  duties,  because  of  the  intimate  relations 
existing  between  the  state  and  her  gods.  No  won- 
der, then,  that  the  Christians  gave  so  great  offense 
by  refusing  to  take  part  in  public  affairs. 

But  the  most  interesting  fact  is  that  Domitian, 
who  was  childless,  had  adopted  the  two  sons  of 
Clemens  and  Domitilla  and  designated  them  as 
his  successors.  Thus  the  presumptive  heirs  to  the 
throne  of  the  whole  world  were  receiving  a  Chris- 
tian training  at  the  hand  of  Christian  parents. 
But  they  were  not  destined  to  wear  the  crown. 
The  hard  fate  of  their  parents  seems  to  have  over- 
taken them  too,  for  after  the  death  of  their  father 
and  the  banishment  of  their  mother  there  is  no 
further  mention  of  them.  It  is  of  course  idle  to 
speculate  as  to  what  might  have  been  the  result  if 
a  Christian  Emperor  had  come  to  the  throne  in  the 
first  century,  instead  of  in  the  fourth.  As  it  was, 
Christianity  has  hardly  yet  recovered  from  the  evil 
effects  of  the  so-called  conversion  of  Constantine. 
A  Christian  Emperor  in  the  first  century  might 
have  done  Christianity  even  a  far  greater  injury. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    CHURCH   IN    JERUSALEM    DURING    THE    FIRST 
FOURTEEN   YEARS.1 

IN  some  respects,  the  life  of  Jesus  was  a  failure. 
It  is  said  that  he  was  sent  as  Messiah  to  the  Jews, 
and  it  is  certain  that  there  was  a  widespread  belief 
among  them  that  their  God  had  promised  them  a 
great  deliverer.  He  was  keenly  sensible  of  the 
fact  that  he  was  a  Jew.  He  loved  Jewish  history 
and  was  familiar  with  it.  It  was,  to  him,  really 
a  record  of  God's  dealings  with  his  people.  He 
learned  from  it,  apparently  without  difficulty,  the 
lessons  which  history,  when  rightly  understood, 
always  teaches.  He  loved  the  land  and  especially 
the  holy  city.  He  was  filled  with  a  burning  patriot- 
ism for  his  country,  but  he  was  of  that  small  class 
of  patriots  who  do  not  hesitate  to  rebuke  the  sins 
of  their  people  and  find  the  true  greatness  of  a  na- 
tion to  consist  in  its  moral  and  religious  character. 

"  O  Jerusalem,    Jerusalem,    which    killeth   the 
prophets  and  stoneth  them  that  are  sent  unto  her ! 
How  often  would  I  have  gathered  thy  children  to- 
gether,   even  as  a  hen  gathereth  her  own  brood 
under   her   wings,  and   ye  would  not."     It   is  a 

1  Read  Acts  i.-viii.  3  and  xi.-xii.  25. 


THE  CHURCH  IN  JERUSALEM.  63 

homely  but  touching  figure,  which  reveals  a  heart 
full  not  only  of  love  but  also  of  despair.  And  dur- 
ing his  "  triumphal  entry  "  into  Jerusalem  he  wept 
aloud  because  this  dear  city  was  so  blind  to  her 
highest  and  best  interests.  His  tears  show  that  he 
felt  his  inability  to  make  the  people  understand 
the  true  character  of  the  mutual  relations  that 
existed  between  God  and  his  children.  But  the 
climax  of  his  failure  is  expressed  in  the  words,  "  He 
came  unto  his  own  and  his  own  received  him  not." 
As  a  Messiah  to  the  Jews  his  life  was  a  failure,  for 
as  a  nation  they  rejected  him  and  his  teachings. 
The  current  toward  legalism  was  too  strong  for 
him.  The  religion  which  he  taught,  a  religion  of 
the  heart,  of  the  affections,  of  the  will,  and  of  the 
conscience,  was  for  them  too  simple  and  at  the 
same  time  too  difficult.  A  religion  which  consists 
in  the  performance  of  certain  acts  and  the  obedi- 
ence to  certain  commands  is  always  more  conven- 
ient and  easier  to  practice,  for  it  does  not  require 
the  discipline  and  participation  of  the  whole  men- 
tal and  spiritual  nature  of  those  who  practice  it. 

But  his  life  was  not  wholly  a  failure,  for  there 
were  some  who  received  him  and  showed  them- 
selves to  be  susceptible  to  his  teachings.  The 
thought  that  Christ  made  few  disciples  is  sometimes 
pushed  too  far.  The  Evangelists  often  tell  us  of 
some  that  believed  on  him.  Only,  when  we  read 
that  many  believed  on  him,  we  must  not  interpret 
it  to  mean  that  they  believed  all  that  the  church 
has  since  expressed  in  her  creeds. 


64      HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

In  Acts  i.  15,  it  is  said  that  there  were  about  a 
hundred  and  twenty  such  gathered  together,  but  it 
by  no  means  is  implied  that  all  his  followers  were 
present.  In  1  Corinthians  xv.  6,  Christ  is  said  to 
have  appeared  to  more  than  five  hundred  persons 
at  once.  So  that  at  this  time  he  must  have  had 
quite  a  respectable  number  of  disciples  who  were 
attached  to  him  personally  and  accepted  his  teach- 
ings. 

Compared  with  the  whole  nation,  these  numbers, 
although  very  small,  yet  show  that  his  labors  had 
met  with  some  success.  The  failure  was  not  total. 
Their  strength  lay  not  in  their  numbers,  but  in  the 
work  assigned  them.  "  Ye  shall  be  witnesses  unto 
me."  And  five  hundred  or  six  hundred  witnesses 
all  bearing  the  same  testimony  to  one  man  cer- 
tainly ought  to  make  a  very  strong  case  for  him. 
And  that  is  what  all  these  did ;  they  bore  testi- 
mony to  the  unique  character  of  Jesus.  Net  even 
Judas  has  been  excused  from  this  service,  for  his 
cry,  "  I  have  betrayed  innocent  blood,"  has  been 
heard  throughout  all  these  centuries. 

Their  testimony  may  be  summed  up  in  a  few 
words :  "  Jesus  is  the  promised  Messiah."  That 
was  always  their  text :  everything  else  was  either 
proof  of  this  or  inference  from  it.  This  is  the  irost 
prominent  and  frequently  repeated  statement  in 
the  writings  of  the  New  Testament.  It  is  the  con- 
stant theme  of  all  the  writers.  They  drew  their 
proofs  of  it  from  many  sources.  If  any  passage 
of  the  Old  Testament  could  be  made  to  refer  to 


THE  CHURCH  IN  JERUSALEM.  65 

him  or  to  any  event  in  his  life,  it  was  triumphantly 
quoted  as  a  proof  of  his  Messiahship.  The  method 
of  interpretation  then  in  vogue  was  the  allegorical, 
and  they  were  guided  generally  not  by  the  original 
meaning  of  the  author,  but  asked  simply  if  the  lan- 
guage could  in  any  way  be  made  to  apply  to  the 
event  in  hand.  In  this  way  they  applied  many 
passages  to  him  which  we,  without  their  guidance, 
would  not  regard  as  real  proofs  of  his  Messiahship. 
That,  however,  is  only  evidence  of  the  deep  impres- 
sion which  Christ  had  made  on  them.  From  their 
intercourse  and  companionship  with  him  they  knew 
that  he  was  the  Messiah,  and  hence,  had  no  diffi- 
culty in  finding  proofs  of  it  in  the  Old  Testament. 
They  knew  of  his  life,  and  that,  too,  furnished 
proofs  of  his  Messiahship.  His  life  and  his  teach- 
ings all  showed  that  he  had  stood  in  a  peculiar  re- 
lation to  God.  The  principal  proof  of  this  was  to 
be  found  in  the  fact  that,  although  he  had  been  put 
to  death,  he  was  now  alive  again.  Because  of  his 
obedience  God  had  raised  him  from  the  dead,  and 
had  exalted  him  to  the  place  of  honor  and  dignity 
at  his  right  hand.  In  fact  they  rested  their  whole 
case  on  this.  The  accounts  which  we  have  of  the 
resurrection  and  of  the  intercourse  of  the  risen 
Jesus  with  his  disciples  contain  many  difficulties. 
It  is  not  easy  to  fit  them  together  chronologically. 
According  to  some  of  them,  Christ  is  very  much 
like  a  disembodied  spirit ;  he  appears  and  dis- 
appears at  will,  he  passes  through  closed  doors,  and 
shows  that  he  is  in  every  way  free  from  all  the  phy- 


66       HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

sical  limitations  which  had  hemmed  in  his  former 
existence.  His  body  is  no  longer  flesh  and  blood, 
but  has  crossed  the  boundary  line  which  separates 
between  the  world  of  spirit  and  the  world  of  sense. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  he  is  represented  as  having 
the  same  body  with  all  its  former  characteristics 
and  functions  unchanged.  He  can  be  handled,  he 
eats  and  drinks,  and  performs  these  acts  for  the 
purpose  of  convincing  his  doubting  disciples  of  his 
identity.  In  this  way  he  is  represented  as  passing 
from  the  one  state  to  the  other,  and  we  are  left  in 
doubt  as  to  many  things,  because  we  are  unable  to 
see  how  a  body  could  partake  of  these  so  contra- 
dictory characteristics  at  one  and  the  same  time. 
But  one  thing  is  secure,  high  above  all  doubt ;  the 
disciples  believed  that  he  was  alive  again.  That 
fact  cannot  be  questioned. 

We  must  remember  that  the  Twelve  were  chil- 
dren of  their  age.  They  shared  in  the  political 
hopes  and  expectations  of  their  people.  Even  to 
the  last,  they  looked  forward  to  the  time  when  they 
would  be  the  great  ones  in  the  Messiah's  kingdom. 
Only  a  few  days  before  the  death  of  Christ,  on  the 
way  up  to  Jerusalem  to  the  last  passover,  they  had 
quarreled  by  the  way  about  the  positions  of  honor 
which  each  hoped  to  obtain.  When  their  teacher 
was  arrested,  like  cowards  they  all  fled  for  their 
lives.  They  did  not  wish  even  to  confess  that 
they  had  ever  known  him.  Only  one  of  them  had 
the  courage  to  witness  his  death.  Fearful  of  the 
authorities,  they  met  in  secret  and  mourned  and 


THE  CHURCH  IN  JERUSALEM.  67 

wept.  Their  leader  was  dead  and  his  cause  had 
died  with  him.  Now  they  could  only  say  that  they 
had  hoped  that  he  would  restore  Israel  to  power. 
They  no  more  expected  to  see  Christ  alive  again 
than  they  expected  the  heavens  to  fall.  The  ac- 
counts of  his  first  appearances  were  called  "  idle 
tales,"  and  it  was  only  with  the  greatest  difficulty 
and  the  most  convincing  proofs  that  they  all  came 
to  believe  that  he  really  was  alive.  It  was  a  tre- 
mendous surprise  to  them,  but  they  all  came  to  be- 
lieve it.  It  was  for  them  the  one  great,  irrefutable 
proof  of  the  Messiahship  of  Jesus.  God  had  borne 
testimony  to  the  peculiar  relationship  existing 
between  himself  and  Jesus  by  raising  him  from 
the  dead  and  exalting  him  to  his  right  hand. 
This  formed  the  burden  of  all  their  utterances,  and 
without  it  the  success  and  power  of  Christianity 
would  have  been  impossible. 

They  believed  and  declared  this  from  the  very 
first.  Aside  from  the  account  which  we  have  in 
the  Acts,  there  are  indirect  evidences  which  show 
that  this  was  the  original  belief  of  the  disciples. 
Paul's  conversion  falls  within  five  or  six  years,  pos- 
sibly within  four  years,  of  the  date  of  the  death  of 
Jesus.  And  yet  Paul  had  persecuted  the  Chris- 
tians for  their  belief  in  the  resurrection.  It  was 
an  appearance  of  the  risen  Jesus  that  changed 
him  from  a  bitter  persecutor  to  an  ardent  apostle 
and  firm  believer  in  the  crucified  but  risen  Lord. 
Paul  based  everything  on  this  fact,  for  "  If  Christ 
hath  not  been  raised  then  is  our  preaching  vain." 


68      HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

In  1  Corinthians  xv.  3-8  ff.,  we  have  preserved 
the  oldest  written  tradition  in  regard  to  the  resur- 
rection.1 Here,  in  the  most  solemn  and  we  might 
say  official  way,  Paul  declares  that  this  was  the 
common  and  universally  accepted  belief  of  the 
Christians.  "  For  I  delivered  unto  you  first  of 
all  that  which  also  I  received,  how  that  Christ 
died  for  our  sins  according  to  the  Scriptures  ;  and 
that  he  was  buried ;  and  that  he  hath  been  raised 
on  the  third  day  according  to  the  Scriptures ;  and 
that  he  appeared  to  Cephas ;  then  to  the  twelve ; 
then  he  appeared  to  above  five  hundred  brethren 
at  once,  of  whom  the  greater  part  remain  until 
now,  but  some  are  fallen  asleep ;  then  he  appeared 
to  James ;  then  to  all  the  apostles ;  and  last  of  all, 
as  unto  one  born  out  of  due  time,  he  appeared  to 
me  also."  Paul  appeals  triumphantly  to  the  five 
hundred  to  whom  Christ  had  appeared  at  one  time. 
Is  it  probable  that  five  hundred  persons  would 
have  one  and  the  same  vision  ? 

To  be  sure,  Paul  does  not  appeal  to  the  empty 
tomb,  but  to  the  many  witnesses,  a  majority  of 
whom  were  still  alive,  and  what  to  us  is  of  more 
value  still,  to  his  own  sight  of  the  risen  Christ. 
He  makes  no  difference  between  the  appearance 
of  Christ  to  the  others  and  to  himself.  They  had 
all  seen  him.  They  were  all  persuaded  that  he 
was  alive  and  that  God  had  established  him  in  a 
position  of  glory  and  power.  And  it  was  this 

1  This  letter  was  written  between  55  and  57,  while  the  Gospels 
and  the  Acts  were  not  written  for  several  years  afterwards. 


THE  CHURCH  7iV  JERUSALEM.  69 

belief  which  filled  them  with  enthusiasm,  and  was 
the  mainspring  of  all  their  efforts  to  build  up  his 
kingdom. 

The  narrative  of  the  choice  of  Matthias  is  inter- 
esting for  several  reasons.  It  shows  that  there 
were  more  than  the  twelve  disciples  that  had 
followed  Christ  throughout  his  whole  ministry. 
Here  at  least  two  such  are  mentioned,  and  we 
are  not  told  whether  there  were  others  or  not. 
This  is  the  last  time  that  the  use  of  the  lot  is 
mentioned.  This  was  common  among  the  Jews. 
According  to  the  religious  conceptions  in  the  Old 
Testament,  it  was  regarded  as  a  direct  appeal  to 
God,  who  is  represented  as  ordering  its  practice 
and  controlling  it.  But  after  the  occurrence  of 
Pentecost  the  lot  is  no  longer  used  among  the 
Christians,  since  it  was  the  common  belief  that 
they  all  possessed,  and  were  guided  by,  the  Holy 
Spirit. 

The  account  accords,  too,  with  the  general  state- 
ment in  the  Gospels,  in  that  Peter  is  represented 
as  the  spokesman  and  leader  among  the  apostles. 
The  election  of  one  to  take  the  place  of  Judas 
along  with  the  Twelve  throws  a  peculiar  light  on 
their  mental  condition.  It  shows  that  they  at- 
tached great  importance  to  the  position  which 
they  held  because  of  the  role  they  were  to  play 
in  the  new  state  which  was  to  include  the  twelve 
tribes.  Undoubtedly,  they  still  expected  that  they 
would  be  the  great  ones  in  this  kingdom,  and  hence 
it  was  necessary  that  their  number  be  complete.  It 


70      HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

shows  that  they  thought  of  their  mission  as  politi- 
cal, and  as  being  directed  first  of  all,  if  not  exclu- 
sively, to  the  Jews.  But  the  visions  of  greatness 
in  which  they  indulged  they  never  realized.  The 
honor  which  they  expected  as  leaders  passed  to 
others  who  showed  by  their  actions  that  they  bet- 
ter understood  the  spirit  of  Christ  and  his  teach- 
ings. Others  led  the  way  in  the  work  of  preaching 
the  gospel  and  carrying  it  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 
From  the  title  of  the  book,  "  The  Acts  of  the 
Apostles,"  we  should  expect  to  find  in  it  some 
account  of  the  lives  and  labors  of  all  the  Twelve. 
It  is  a  matter  of  much  surprise,  then,  to  find  that 
nine  of  them  are  not  so  much  as  even  named  again 
after  this  first  chapter.  In  the  twelfth  chapter 
the  death  of  James  is  briefly  recorded.  John  is 
barely  mentioned  three  times.  In  all,  not  more 
than  three  or  four  chapters  are  taken  up  with  a 
recital  of  Peter's  labors.  The  disciples,  much  as 
we  are  accustomed  to  exalt  them,  created  no  place 
in  history  for  themselves.  To  all  intents  and  pur- 
poses they  are  but  a  list  of  names.  We  are  at  a 
loss  to  know  how  to  explain  this.  Was  it  because 
they  were  still  so  Jewish  that  they  were  practically 
useless  for  the  work  of  propagating  the  gospel  ? 
Were  they  men  of  so  little  importance  and  value 
personally  that  they  at  once  dropped  out  of  sight? 
Or  did  they  labor  earnestly,  faithfully,  and  suc- 
cessfully and,  like  many  another  noble  one,  fail  to 
find  a  biographer  to  record  their  deeds  for  the 
admiration  of  all  posterity  ? 


THE  CHURCH  IN  JERUSALEM.  71 

The  temple  in  Jerusalem  was  built  on  a  large 
area  which  contained  many  other  buildings,  halls, 
and  arcades,  which  were  used  by  the  crowds  of 
worshipers  and  visitors  as  lounging  and  resting- 
places.  It  was  probably  in  one  of  these  that  the 
hundred  and  twenty  disciples  were  gathered  to- 
gether on  the  day  of  Pentecost.  The  event  de- 
scribed so  rhetorically  in  the  second  chapter  has 
always  been  regarded  as  epoch-making  in  the 
history  of  the  Christian  church.  It  has  been 
much  written  about,  and  there  are  as  many  theo- 
ries concerning  it  as  there  are  authors  that  have 
written  about  it.  Although  it  is  full  of  difficulties 
from  one  point  of  view,  if  we  follow  the  narrative 
three  things  seem  to  be  clear.  The  first  is  that 
the  Holy  Spirit  was  given  to  all  that  were  present. 
The  extraordinary  manifestations,  whatever  their 
character  was,  were  not  confined  to  the  Twelve,  but 
all  alike  were  made  partakers  of  them.  The  Spirit 
came  upon  all.  "  And  there  appeared  unto  them 
tongues  parting  asunder,  like  as  of  fire ;  and  it  sat 
upon  each  one  of  them.  And  they  were  all  filled 
with  the  Holy  Spirit."  This  is  of  tremendous 
importance,  for  it  marks  the  beginning  of  a  new 
era  in  religious  development.  According  to  the 
representations  of  the  Old  Testament,  the  Spirit 
of  God  had  been  given  only  to  single  favored  indi- 
viduals, not  to  all.  Only  the  leaders,  the  kings, 
the  prophets,  and  the  priests  could  hope  to  have 
this  great  honor.  The  possession  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  limited  thus  to  a  few  in  the  Old  Testa- 


72       HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

ment,  was  by  the  event  of  this  day  declared  to  be 
for  all.  The  Spirit  of  God  took  up  his  abode  in 
the  individual  believer,  and  each  one  is  thereby 
made  the  dwelling-place  of  God  himself. 

What  is  this  but  a  different  form  of  statement 
of  the  truth  which  Christ  taught,  that  God  is  our 
Father,  and  we  as  his  children  have  direct  access 
to  Him  without  the  intervention  of  others.  A 
child-like,  loving  trust  and  reverence  will  cause 
us  to  walk  in  his  spirit,  and  his  spirit  to  dwell  in 
us,  and  will  make  possible  for  each  one  the  same 
deep,  strengthening  intercourse  with  God  which 
Jesus  himself  enjoyed.  The  heathen  thought  of 
God  as  an  enemy  that  must  be  propitiated;  the 
Jew  thought  of  God  as  the  father  of  the  nation ; 
but  Christ  taught  that  He  sustains  the  relation  of 
father  to  each  individual.  This  utterly  destroyed 
priesthood.  There  is  no  need  of  priestly  media- 
tion between  the  believer  and  his  God,  for  he  is 
no  longer  to  be  kept  as  a  minor  or  ward  under 
religious  guardians.  There  is  no  man,  or  class  of 
men,  that  possesses  the  peculiar  priestly  privilege 
of  mediating  between  God  and  his  people.  No 
one  has  a  monopoly  in  supplying  God's  grace,  for 
all  his  children  have  his  spirit,  and  the  way  is 
open  between  Him  and  them.  It  is  this  that 
makes  all  believers  kings  and  priests  unto  God. 

The  progress  of  Christianity  was  now  made 
possible,  for  it  was  shown  to  be  wholly  indepen- 
dent of  any  man  or  class  of  men.  Not  even  the 
Twelve  could  control  it,  for  the  Holy  Spirit  who 


THE  CHURCH  IN  JERUSALEM.  73 

was  to  govern  all  was  possessed  by  all.  This  is 
really  the  basis  for  the  principles  of  the  freedom  of 
conscience  and  the  right  of  private  judgment  in 
matters  of  religion.  No  Christian  may  give  his 
conscience  or  his  judgment  into  the  keeping  of 
another,  whether  his  priest  or  his  pastor.  They 
belong  to  himself;  they  are  gifts  from  God,  to 
whom  he  is  responsible  for  their  proper  use. 
They  are  personal,  and  cannot  be  sublet  to  any 
one.  When  the  church,  in  the  course  of  time, 
took  on  a  fixed  form  of  government  and  adopted 
a  creed,  it  usurped  these  rights  of  the  individual. 
All  had  to  yield  unquestioning  obedience  to  the 
priesthood,  and  no  one  dared  say  his  conscience 
or  his  judgment  was  his  own.  If  he  did  he  was 
punished  with  excommunication,  and  might  even 
consider  himself  fortunate  if  he  escaped  with  his 
life.  It  is  one  of  the  great  blessings  resulting 
from  the  Reformation  and  the  long  struggles  that 
it  brought  about,  that  the  individual  again  got 
back  his  conscience  and  the  right  of  private  judg- 
ment which  had  been  so  long  usurped. 

It  is  evident,  too,  from  the  record  that  various 
languages  were  spoken.  That  is  certainly  what 
the  author  means  to  say.  We  are  not  to  suppose, 
however,  that  he  means  that  each  one  spoke  all 
these  languages,  but  that  one  spoke  one,  another 
another,  so  that  one  after  another  of  them  was 
heard.  However  surprising  this  may  be,  or  what- 
ever explanation  of  it  may  be  accepted,  it  can 
hardly  be  doubted  that  this  is  the  import  of  the 


74      HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

language  used.1  This  passage  was  for  a  long  time 
supposed  to  declare  that  the  early  disciples  had 
the  supernatural  gift  of  speaking  any  foreign  lan- 
guage which  was  necessary  for  their  mission  work. 
But  there  is  no  trace  of  such  a  thing  in  the  history 
of  the  period.  On  the  contrary  every  indication 
that  we  have  would  show  that  they  did  not  possess 
such  powers.  For  tradition  has  inseparably  asso- 
ciated Mark  with  Peter  as  his  interpreter.  And 
when  Paul  and  Barnabas  were  in  Lystra,  and  the 
people  were  preparing  to  offer  them  divine  honors, 
they  were  not  able  to  understand  what  was  said  in 
the  language  of  the  country,  but  it  was  necessary 
for  it  to  be  explained  to  them. 

The  third  thing  which  seems  to  be  clear  from 
the  text  is  that  this  "  speaking  with  tongues  "  was 
accompanied  by  strange  actions  of  the  speakers. 
For  those  living  in  Jerusalem  there  would  be  no- 
thing surprising  in  the  fact  that  in  a  company  of  a 
hundred  and  twenty  persons  there  should  be  sev- 
eral languages  spoken.  That  a  man  should  speak 
a  foreign  language  would  by  no  means  be  sufficient 
ground  for  saying  that  he  was  "  full  of  new  wine." 
Besides,  Jerusalem  was  a  very  Babel  of  tongues ; 

1  The  most  simple  and  common  explanation  offered  by  those 
who  cannot  accept  this  as  real  history  is,  that  the  author  who 
wrote  so  many  years  after  the  event  did  not  understand  the  ex- 
pression which  he  found  in  his  sources  of  information,  but  thought 
that  to  "  speak  with  other  tongues  "  meant  to  speak  other  lan- 
guages, and  so  in  describing  the  occurrence  decked  out  his  rhe- 
torical narrative  with  these  details  as  he  supposed  they  must  have 
taken  place. 


THE  CHURCH  IN  JERUSALEM.  75 

it  was  nothing  remarkable  to  hear  foreign  lan- 
guages spoken  there  all  the  time.  We  must  look 
for  another  explanation  of  the  surprise  of  the 
crowd  that  was  gathered  about  them,  and  of  the 
mocking  taunt,  "  these  men  are  full  of  new  wine." 
Our  only  source  of  knowledge  about  the  speak- 
ing with  tongues  is  in  the  fourteenth  chapter  of 
First  Corinthians.  If  we  put  together  some  of  the 
statements  there  made  we  shall  be  able  to  form 
some  idea  of  what  this  peculiar  phenomenon  was. 
"  For  he  that  speaketh  in  a  tongue  speaketh  not 
unto  men,  but  unto  God ;  for  no  man  under- 
standeth ;  but  in  the  spirit  he  speaketh  myste- 
ries," ver.  2.  "  Now  I  would  have  you  all  speak 
with  tongues,  but  rather  that  ye  should  prophesy : 
and  greater  is  he  that  prophesieth  than  he  that 
speaketh  with  tongues,  except  he  interpret,  that 
the  church  may  receive  edifying,"  ver.  5.  "  For  if 
I  pray  in  a  tongue,  my  spirit  prayeth,  but  my  un- 
derstanding is  unfruitful"  ver.  14.  "  If  any  man 
speaketh  in  a  tongue,  let  it  be  by  two,  or  at  the 
most  three,  and  that  in  turn ;  and  let  one  inter- 
pret," ver.  27.  It  is  clear  from  these  passages  that 
the  speaker  did  not  address  the  congregation,  for 
his  words  were  not  understood  by  others.  His 
mysterious,  unintelligible  utterances  were  spoken 
as  a  kind  of  prayer  or  address  to  God.  At  the 
time,  he  himself  seems  not  to  have  known  what  he 
was  saying,  for  his  understanding  was  "  unfruit- 
ful ; "  that  is,  he  lost  for  the  moment  the  use  of 
his  reason,  he  was  not  conscious  of  what  he  was 


76       HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

saying,  but  was  in  such  a  physical  and  mental 
condition  that  he  had  no  control  over  his  tongue. 
Sometimes  he  himself  could  afterwards  interpret 
to  others  what  he  had  said  while  in  this  strange 
state.  At  other  times  some  one  of  those  present 
could  interpret,  but  it  often  happened  that  there 
was  no  one  present  who  could  explain  what  he  had 
said.  Such  a  strange  condition  reminds  one  of  the 
story  of  Balaam's  prophecies  recorded  in  Numbers. 
When  he  prophesied  he  lost  all  control  of  his  will, 
his  tongue  uttered  what  it  would,  his  understanding 
was  inactive,  he  fell  down,  his  eyes  were  open  but 
he  saw  nothing,  and  he  was  wholly  unconscious  of 
what  he  said  and  did.  He  was  in  what  is  called 
an  ecstatic  condition. 

If  we  read  the  account  now  with  all  this  in 
mind,  the  astonishment  of  the  crowd  and  the 
charge  of  drunkenness  are  easily  explained.  As 
one  after  another  of  the  hundred  and  twenty  was 
seized  by  the  Spirit  and  filled  with  rapturous  en- 
thusiasm, they  each  passed  into  a  condition  resem- 
bling this  ecstatic  state  and  gave  utterance  to  their 
praises,  while  their  actions  were  strange,  resembling 
those  of  drunken  men.  It  was  their  strange  ges- 
tures, then,  that  caused  some  to  mock  and  say  that 
they  were  full  of  new  wine. 

This  strange  occurrence  at  any  rate  filled  the 
disciples  with  courage  and  boldness.  There  was 
no  longer  any  fear  among  them,  but  they  are 
represented  as  speaking  plainly  and  boldly  from 
this  time  on.  It  also  impressed  many  of  the 


THE  CHUBCH  IN  JERUSALEM.  77 

hearers,  and  much  of  the  success  of  the  day  is  to 
be  attributed  not  wholly  to  the  address  of  Peter, 
but  in  part  at  least  to  this.  It  is  agreed,  too,  by 
all,  that  this  event  had  also  a  symbolic  use.  The 
use  of  all  languages  indicated  that  the  message 
was  for  all  tongues  and  all  peoples.  All  languages 
were  hereby  sanctified  for  the  purpose  of  spread- 
ing the  gospel.  It  was  a  token  in  advance  that 
the  gospel  would  be  preached  in  all  tongues.  It 
symbolized  its  universality. 

The  language  used  in  regard  to  the  possessions 
of  the  members  of  the  new  society  deserves  care- 
ful examination.  There  are  several  very  strong 
general  statements  in  the  text.  "  And  all  that 
believed  were  together,  and  had  all  things  com- 
mon ;  and  they  sold  their  possessions  and  goods, 
and  parted  them  to  all,  according  as  any  man  had 
need  "  (Acts  ii.  44,  45).  "  And  the  multitude  of 
them  that  believed  were  of  one  heart  and  soul :  and 
not  one  of  them  said  that  aught  of  the  things  which 
he  possessed  was  his  own  ;  but  they  had  all  things 
common.  For  neither  was  there  among  them  any 
that  lacked:  for  as  many  as  were  possessors  of 
lands  or  houses  sold  them,  and  brought  the  prices 
of  the  things  that  were  sold,  and  laid  them  at 
the  apostles'  feet :  and  distribution  was  made  unto 
each,  according  as  any  one  had  need"  (Acts  iv.  32, 
34,  35).  It  would  be  difficult  to  make  stronger  or 
more  sweeping  statements  than  are  contained  in 
these  quotations,  and  it  looks  as  if  they  were  wholly 
justified,  who  have  spoken  of  this  as  the  "  Jerusa- 


78      HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

lem  communism."  For  if  the  words  are  to  be  taken 
at  their  face  value  without  careful  study  of  their 
surroundings,  we  have  here  complete  communism. 
All  personal  rights  seem  to  be  gone.  But  the 
narrative  furnishes  some  very  important  limitations 
to  this  view.  It  was  not  required  of  the  members 
that  they  surrender  their  property  for  the  benefit 
of  their  brethren.  For  Peter  said  to  Ananias, 
"  While  it  remained,  did  it  not  remain  thine  own  ? 
And  after  it  was  sold  was  it  not  in  thy  power  ?  " 
Such  a  gift  was  wholly  voluntary.  Ananias  might 
have  been  a  member  "  in  good  standing  "  without 
surrendering  any  of  his  possessions.  It  was  not 
regarded  as  a  term  of  fellowship,  and  it  was  not 
a  condition  of  membership  in  the  new  church. 
There  is  not  much  danger  in  a  communism  that  is 
voluntary,  for  it  is  not  likely  to  become  extremely 
popular.  It  was  also  partial,  for  a  little  later  we 
find  that  Mary,  the  mother  of  Mark,  had  a  house 
in  Jerusalem  (Acts  xii.  12).  Even  of  Ananias 
and  Sapphira  it  is  said  that  they  sold  a  possession. 
It  by  no  means  follows  that  that  was  all  they  had. 
This  communism  was  also  local.  It  was  confined 
wholly  to  Jerusalem.  There  is  not  a  single  trace 
of  it  outside  that  city.1  On  the  contrary,  every 
bit  of  information  which  we  possess  goes  to  show 
that  there  was  no  such  practice  anywhere  else. 
In  1  Cor.  xvi.  2,  Paul  asks  that  each  of  the  Corin- 

1  Perhaps  in  1  Thess.  iv.  11,  and  2  Thess.  iii.  10,  11,  there  is  a 
germ  or  beginning  of  such  a  movement,  but  it  is  most  severely 
rebuked  by  Paul. 


THE  CHURCH  IN  JERUSALEM.  79 

tliian  congregation  should  lay  aside  as  he  has 
prospered.  There  is  evidently  no  communism 
there.  Besides,  whatever  else  this  communism 
in  Jerusalem  was,  it  was  a  failure,  for  Paul  and 
others  were  continually  making  collections  for  the 
"  poor  saints,"  up  at  Jerusalem.  It  is  not  impos- 
sible that  the  Jewish  Christians  in  Palestine  re- 
ceived the  nickname  of  the  "  poor  "  (for  that  is 
what  Ebionite  means),  which  clung  to  the  remnant 
of  them  that  continued  to  observe  the  Jewish  law 
and  peculiarities  during  the  first  centuries.  It  need 
hardly  be  said  that  any  ism  that  leads  to  beggary 
and  the  poor-house  is  self-condemned,  since  it  de- 
feats the  end  for  which  it  is  supposed  to  exist. 

We  have,  however,  in  this  account  a  fine  proof  of 
the  strength  of  the  new  ideas  that  were  preached. 
It  shows  what  a  new  and  deep  feeling  of  brother- 
hood, equality,  and  unity  was  produced  among  the 
believers  by  the  message  of  the  risen  Christ,  who 
would  presently  come  in  person  to  establish  his 
kingdom  and  receive  his  followers.  It  is  probable, 
too,  that  the  belief  and  hope  that  he  would  soon  re- 
turn influenced  them,  and  they  parted  with  their 
possessions  all  the  more  willingly  because  they 
thought  it  was  only  for  a  short  time.  This  was  not 
at  all  uncommon  in  the  early  church.  There  were 
many  who  were  so  overpowered  by  the  teaching  that 
they  willingly  sold  all  that  they  had  and  went  out 
into  the  world  devoting  themselves  to  the  work  of 
spreading  the  gospel. 

We  can  also  see  that  it  must  have  been  a  very 


80      HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH 

popular  thing  to  do  in  Jerusalem.     A  man  who 
gave  so  liberally  would  certainly  be  lionized.     We 
are  all  disposed  to  show  a  good  deal  of  veneration 
to   those  who   benefit   us   largely   by  their  gifts. 
The  liberal  man  must  be  a  very  bad  man  indeed, 
if  he  is  not  popular,  for  such  charity  always  covers 
a  multitude   of   sins.     But   Eastern  peoples    are 
especially  obsequious  to  their  benefactors,  and  un- 
doubtedly all  who  gave  so  liberally  of  their  posses- 
sions would  be  at  once  exalted  to  a  high  position 
of  influence  and  honor.     It  was  this  that  offered 
temptation  to  those  that  were  ambitious,  and  in- 
troduced the  first  cool  deception  and  calculating 
fraud  into  the  happy  and  contented  congregation. 
Ananias   and    Sapphira   coveted   the     popularity 
and  high  position  which  they  saw  those  enjoying 
who  had   thus  given   all   they  possessed  to  their 
brethren   and   were   spending  their   lives  in  the 
services  of  the  gospel.     But  this  popularity  came 
high ;  it  would  cost  them  their  possessions.     And 
such  a  price  they  were  unwilling  to  pay.     So  they 
tried  to  get  it  by  means  of  hypocrisy.     They  pro- 
fessed to  give  all  that  they  had  received  for  the 
piece   of   property  which   they  had  sold.     Hypo- 
crites are   a   hindrance  in   any   good   movement. 
The  better  the   movement,  the  greater  the  danger 
from  such  people,  and  the  more  injurious  are  their 
presence   and   influence.     A    few    individuals   of 
such  character,  who  in  this  way  had  got  leading 
positions  in  the  young  church,  could  have  ruined  it. 
The  danger  was  great,  the  remedy  severe. 


THE  CHURCH  IN  JERUSALEM.  81 

Attention  has  already  been  called  to  the  fact 
that  there  were  many  Jews  outside  of  Palestine 
who  had  taken  much  of  the  Greek  culture,  and 
were  consequently  called  Hellenists.  They  were, 
however,  despised  by  the  Jews  in  Palestine,  because 
they  lived  outside  the  Holy  Land.  For  according 
to  their  conception,  all  foreign  lands  were  unclean 
and  all  those  who  lived  in  them  were  necessarily 
contaminated  and  were  as  far  as  possible  to  be 
shunned.  But  the  Jews  in  the  Diaspora  never 
forgot  Jerusalem  ;  and  it  was  their  last  wish  to 
return  thither  that  they  might  there  die  and  be 
buried  under  the  shadow  of  its  walls.  It  was  only 
natural  that  those  who  returned  to  Jerusalem 
from  the  same  province  or  part  of  the  world  would 
to  a  certain  extent,  at  least,  form  a  separate  society. 
And  so  we  find  that  those  from  a  particular  prov- 
ince generally  had  their  own  synagogue,  where  they 
could  meet  and  continue  their  friendships  which 
had  been  begun  in  a  foreign  land. 

It  was  this  religious  pride  of  the  Palestinian 
members  of  the  church  that  first  disturbed  its 
peace.  The  widows  of  the  Hellenists,  that  is,  of 
these  Greek  Jews,  were  slighted  in  the  distribution 
of  the  alms.  Those  that  had  charge  of  the  funds 
were  not  impartial  in  their  treatment  of  the  poor 
members  who  needed  help.  The  other  poor  were 
cared  for,  but  the  poor  widows  who  had  been  so 
unfortunate  as  to  have  lived  in  an  unclean  land 
were  despised  and  neglected.  We  do  not  know 
who  had  been  attending  to  this  work,  but  their 


82    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

conduct  was  an  offense  against  the  principles  of 
brotherhood  and  equality  which  had  been  at  first 
received  with  such  joy  and  enthusiasm.  The  line 
between  Hellenists  and  Palestinian  Jews  had 
seemed  to  be  effaced,  but  this  injustice  and  par- 
tiality at  once  awakened  the  old  feelings,  the  party 
lines  were  quickly  drawn  again,  and  the  Hellenists 
stood  on  one  side  and  the  Palestinian  Jews  on  the 
other.  As  they  could  not  settle  the  difficulty,  they 
appealed  to  the  apostles.  These  refused  to  give 
up  the  service  of  the  word  for  the  service  of  the 
tables,  but  proposed  that  seven  men  of  tried  char- 
acter be  chosen  who  should  have  charge  of  this 
work.  It  is  probable,  from  the  names,  that  a  ma- 
jority of  these  were  Hellenists.  Of  the  seven  only 
two,  Stephen  and  Philip,  are  afterwards  men- 
tioned. Absolutely  nothing  further  is  known  of 
the  others. 

The  national  and  religious  narrowness  of  the 
Jews  ill  Palestine  has  already  been  spoken  of.  In 
their  eyes  three  things  were  especially  holy ;  the 
land,  the  law,  and  the  temple.  Palestine  was  holy, 
while  every  other  land  was  unclean.  No  one  could 
live  outside  of  Palestine  and  serve  God.  They  be- 
lieved that  God  loved  Palestine,  but  every  other 
country  was  an  abomination  in  his  sight.  As  to 
the  law,  they  had  made  an  idol  of  it.  It  was  holy 
in  and  of  itself.  It  was  the  last  and  highest  ex- 
pression of  God's  holy  will.  He  was  the  most  holy 
and  the  most  acceptable  to  God  who  most  nearly 
kept  its  every  command.  Since  the  worship  of  God 


THE  CHURCH  IN  JERUSALEM.  83 

by  sacrifice  had  been  forbidden  in  every  other  part 
of  Palestine,  the  temple  had  increased  in  impor- 
tance, and  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  speak  of  the 
idolatrous  veneration  with  which  the  Jew  regarded 
it.  These  three  things  had  an  innate  holiness, 
they  were  to  endure  forever.  For  when  the  Mes- 
siah should  come,  Palestine  was  to  enjoy  his  favor 
and  presence,  while  the  rest  of  the  world  was  to  be 
subjected  and  ruled  with  a  rod  of  iron.  The  law, 
now  so  limited,  he  was  to  make  binding  on  the 
whole  earth,  while  the  temple  was  to  become  the 
temple  for  the  whole  world,  the  one  place  where 
men  might  offer  sacrifices  and  pay  their  vows  to 
God.  They  identified  the  interests  of  religion  with 
those  of  Judaism  ;  in  fact,  Judaism  and  religion 
were  synonymous.  They  thought  that  religion 
could  not  exist  in  any  other  form  than  in  that  of 
Judaism.  There  is  an  immense  gulf  between  this 
conception  of  religion  and  that  of  Christ,  according 
to  whom  religion  consists  in  the  attitude  of  the 
heart  toward  God. 

It  is  a  fact  worth  noting,  because  characteristic 
of  the  period,  that  not  one  of  the  Twelve,  but  a 
Hellenist,  was  the  first  to  discover  that  Christ's 
teachings  made  an  end  of  Judaism.  All  had  sup- 
posed that  Christianity  was  but  the  completion  of 
Judaism,  not  its  supplanter.  Stephen  was  the 
first  to  understand  the  true  character  of  Christian- 
ity, and  he  at  once  saw  that  the  Jewish  forms  could 
not  exist  as  a  part  of  Christianity.  He  perceived 
that  Christ  had  shown  that  religion  was  a  matter 


84    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

of  the  heart ;  that  he  had  freed  religion  from 
every  external,  and  thereby  had  made  of  it  a  uni- 
versal religion.  For  he  had  freed  it  from  every 
national  and  local  limitation,  had  shown  that  the 
true  religion  is  possible  everywhere,  and  is  to  be 
found  wherever  a  heart,  filled  with  penitence  and 
humility,  and  trusting  in  God  as  a  loving  Father, 
daily  strives  to  serve  Him  by  fulfilling  the  duties 
which  He  gives  it  to  do.  He  declared  that  the 
law  of  Moses  was  no  longer  binding,  and  that 
the  temple  was  not  necessary  for  the  worship  of 
God. 

Stephen's  speech  is  aimed  against  the  Jews  and 
the  false  value  which  was  attached  to  the  land,  the 
law,  and  the  temple.  He  proves  to  them  from 
their  own  history  that  God's  grace  is  not  bound  to 
these.  They  cannot  be  essential  to  God's  favor, 
for  He  has  shown  his  grace  to  some  outside  of  the 
Holy  Land,  before  the  law  was  given,  and  before 
the  temple  was  built.  God  had  chosen  Abraham 
long  before  he  had  come  into  Palestine,  and  had 
cared  for  his  children  while  they  were  in  the 
strange  land  of  Egypt.  And  so  Stephen  reviews 
their  history,  and  shows  that  God  had  gradually 
revealed  his  will,  that  there  had  been  successive 
stages  in  the  revelation  of  himself.  Progress  had 
been  the  principle  of  his  dealings  with  them.  At 
first  He  had  given  them  only  the  sign  of  circum- 
cision, then  after  a  long  time  the  law  had  been 
added.  Then  the  Tabernacle  had  been  built,  but 
after  hundreds  of  years  it  had  given  place  to  the 


THE  CHURCH  IN  JERUSALEM.  85 

temple.  And  now  there  is  a  new  and  higher  stage 
introduced  by  Jesus,  his  Messiah.  As  the  temple 
had  replaced  the  Tabernacle,  so  Judaism  was  re- 
placed by  Christianity.  Each  had  done  its  work 
in  its  time,  and  served  the  purpose  for  which  it  had 
been  instituted.  But  there  was  nothing  in  them 
which  made  it  necessary  that  they  should  be  bind- 
ing forever.  They  were  riot  holy  of  themselves, 
for  holiness  is  only  of  the  heart,  it  cannot  attach 
to  things.  Why  was  it,  then,  that  the  Jews  had 
rejected  the  Messiah,  and  now  refused  to  follow  in 
his  teachings  ?  For  Stephen  the  answer  was  very 
easy.  They  had  never  willingly  accepted  the  new. 
They  had  always  held  to  the  old  and  refused  to 
listen  to  the  new  truths  which  He  had  sent  them 
by  his  messengers.  Always  rebellious,  they  had 
never  recognized  God's  hand  in  the  changes  and 
new  institutions,  but,  spiritually  blind,  they  held 
with  fanatical  zeal  to  the  old.  They  had  always 
resisted,  and  in  the  treatment  of  his  Messiah  had 
given  but  another  proof  of  the  hardness  of  their 
hearts.  Stephen  made  the  charge  very  pointed,  but 
they  did  not  permit  him  to  finish  it.  Enraged  at 
these  charges  and  at  his  blasphemous  words  against 
the  temple  and  the  law,  they  rushed  upon  him, 
hustled  him  out  of  the  city,  and  stoned  him.  He 
suffered  death  at  the  hands  of  such  a  maddened 
and  fanatical  mob  as  had  once  demanded  of  Pilate 
the  death  of  Jesus.  But  in  this  case  there  was  no 
trial;  the  mob  passed  and  executed  its  own  sen- 
tence without  appeal  to  the  Roman  authorities. 


86    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

Stephen  was  the  first  to  distinguish  between 
Christianity  and  Judaism,  and  his  sharp  criticism 
of  the  law  and  the  temple  aroused  such  hostility 
as  to  bring  about  not  only  his  own  death  but  also 
severe  persecution  of  the  Christians.  The  Jews 
were  suddenly  made  aware  of  the  fact  that  this  was 
an  heretical  sect  that  was  growing  up  among  them. 
The  persecution,  however,  had  at  least  two  good 
results.  It  greatly  hastened,  as  we  have  already 
seen,  the  spread  of  Christianity,  by  scattering  the 
Christians  abroad  and  thrusting  them  forth  into 
the  work  of  propagating  their  belief,  and  it  helped 
to  develop  the  self-consciousness  of  Christianity. 
They  were  persecuted  for  their  belief  in  the  Christ, 
which  was  the  very  thing  that  distinguished  them 
from  other  Jews.  It  emphasized  the  difference 
between  them,  and  marked  the  beginning  of  a  new 
period  in  the  development  of  Christianity  from  a 
Jewish  sect  into  a  world  religion.  From  this  time 
on,  Christianity  became  more  and  more  differenti- 
ated from  Judaism,  threw  off  its  Jewish  wrappings, 
and  appeared  as  a  complete  and  independent  re- 
ligion. 

Herod  Agrippa  L,  the  grandson  of  Herod  the 
Great,  had  with  some  difficulty  succeeded,  in  the 
year  41  A.  D.,  in  getting  the  title  of  King,  and  all 
Palestine  for  his  kingdom.  In  Rome  he  had  lived 
as  the  Romans.  But  it  was  necessary  for  him  to 
win  the  good  will  of  the  Jews  ;  so  there  was  a  de- 
cided change  in  his  conduct  when  he  came  among 
them  as  their  king.  He  pretended  to  be  a  Phari- 


THE  CHURCH  IN  JERUSALEM.  87 

see  of  the  Pharisees,  living  outwardly  at  least 
according  to  the  law,  and  in  every  way  seeking  to 
please  the  Jews.  It  is  entirely  in  accordance  with 
his  policy  that  he  should  cause  the  Christians 
trouble,  especially  if  the  Jews  should  make  charges 
against  them.  It  is  impossible  to  believe  that  it 
was  really  a  matter  of  faith  with  him,  so  his  con- 
temptibility  appears  in  a  strong  light,  because  of 
the  fact  that  for  the  sake  of  popularity  he  perse- 
cuted at  the  desire  of  the  Jews.  His  most  promi- 
nent victim  was  James  the  brother  of  John,  who 
suffered  martyrdom  about  the  year  44.  Peter  also 
was  seized,  but  in  a  remarkable  way  escaped  the 
threatened  death. 

Josephus  (Antiquities  xix.  8)  gives  an  account 
of  the  death  of  this  Herod,  with  which  our  narra- 
tive in  the  Acts  in  general  agrees.  According  to 
Josephus  he  was  suddenly  seized  with  severe  pains, 
and  died  after  five  days  of  great  agony. 

Scattered  throughout  these  twelve  chapters  are 
several  general  statements  in  regard  to  the  peace- 
ful and  prosperous  condition  of  the  Christian  com- 
munity in  Jerusalem.1  These  are  not  to  be  pressed 
too  far,  for  there  was,  as  we  have  seen,  some  oppo- 
sition and  persecution.  The  hostility  of  the  Jew- 
ish hierarchy  is  represented  as  increasing,  though 
kept  in  bounds  for  awhile  by  the  favor  which  the 
Christians  enjoyed  with  the  common  people.  This 
favor  is  attributed  to  two  things:  first,  the  be- 
neficent miracles  of  the  apostles ;  and  second,  the 
1  See  Acts  ii.  42-47,  and  v.  12-16  and  42. 


88    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

conservatism  of  the  new  movement.  They  by  no 
means  neglected  the  Jewish  institutions,  but  at  the 
regular  hours  of  prayer  were  found  in  the  temple, 
and  undoubtedly  observed  the  feasts  and  fasts,  and 
outwardly  in  no  way  distinguished  themselves  from 
the  Jews  about  them. 


CHAPTER  V. 
BREAKING  THE  JEWISH   BONDS.1 

THE  attitude  of  the  majority  of  the  Jewish 
Christians  and  of  the  Mother  Church  at  Jerusa- 
lem toward  the  heathen  has  been  made  suf- 
ficiently plain.  Undoubtedly  there  were  many 
who  disregarded  their  opinions  and  preached 
the  gospel  to  the  heathen,  and  associated  with 
them  without  any  regard  to  the  requirements  of 
the  law.  But  of  all  these  Paul  is  the  only  one 
of  whom  we  have  any  detailed  information,  and 
more  than  that,  he  is  the  only  one  who  attempted 
to  tell  ivhy  the  law  is  no  longer  binding  on  those 
who  believe  in  Christ.  The  history  of  the  Apos- 
tolic Church  is  practically  the  history  of  Paul, 
because  we  have  no  certain  information  about 
the  labors  of  others.  It  will  be  best  to  gather 
up  here  all  the  scattered  personal  notices  of  him, 
that  we  may  get  as  clear  a  picture  of  him  as  pos- 
sible. 

Paul  always  spoke  of  his  birthplace  with  patri- 
otic pride,  and  justly  too,  for  Tarsus  was  indeed 
"  no  mean  city."  It  was  an  important  centre  of 
trade,  and  consequently  rich.  It  was  a  place  of 

1  Read  Acts  ix.  1-30  and  xiii.-xiv. 


90    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

great  culture,  for  it  was  the  seat  of  the  third 
university  of  the  world.  There  were  many 
learned  professors  there,  whose  students  were 
much  sought  after  as  tutors  and  professors  in 
other  places.  In  studying  the  character  and  life 
of  Paul  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  to  remem- 
ber that  he  grew  up  in  the  atmosphere  of  a  great 
and  busy  city,  for  it  greatly  influenced  him  in 
many  ways.  His  cosmopolitan  culture  he  owed 
to  the  influence  of  his  training  and  surroundings 
in  Tarsus.  It  was  always  easy  for  him  to  asso- 
ciate with  all  classes,  with  the  cultured  and  refined 
as  well  as  with  the  common  people.  He  could  deal 
with,  men,  with  individuals,  and  with  the  masses. 
In  his  letters,  his  politeness  and  thoughtfulness  for 
others  are  everywhere  apparent.  He  knew  how  to 
turn  a  compliment  and  say  pleasant  things  to  those 
whom  he  wished  to  win.  It  is  impossible  not  to 
see  a  great  difference  between  him  and  the  Twelve 
in  this  respect,  and  this  is  due  largely  to  the  fact 
that  he  was  a  child  of  the  city,  while  they  were  of 
the  country. 

He  is  known  to  us  by  two  names,  Saul  and  Paul. 
A  good  deal  of  ingenuity  has  been  expended  in 
trying  to  explain  why  he  is  called  Saul  up  to  a 
certain  place  in  the  Acts  (xiii.  9),  and  after  that, 
with  rare  exceptions,  Paul.  Most  writers  have 
supposed  that  he  actually  changed  his  name ;  but 
that  is  extremely  improbable,  and  the  difficulty  is 
easily  explained  in  another  way.  It  was  common 
for  the  Jews,  especially  those  who  lived  in  the 


BREAKING  THE  JEWISH  BONDS.  91 

Diaspora,  to  have  two  names,  the  one  Jewish,  the 
other  Greek;  and  often  these  two  were  much 
alike  in  sound.  One  who  bore  the  name  of 
Joshua  would  also  be  called  Jason.  Undoubtedly 
Paul  bore  both  names  from  his  childhood.  It  is 
not  to  be  supposed  that  the  author  of  the  Acts 
wrote  this  book  simply  from  his  own  knowledge 
of  the  events  or  from  hearsay.  He  himself  tells 
us  in  the  prologue  to  his  Gospel  that  he  had  used 
written  sources  in  its  composition,  and  as  in  the 
Acts  he  narrates  events  that  were  far  apart  in 
both  time  and  place,  it  is  very  probable  that  he 
would  look  about  for  written  sources  for  this  work 
also.  The  first  chapters  of  the  Acts  differ  from 
the  later  ones,  and  there  are  several  peculiarities 
which  make  it  probable  that  he  got  much  of  his 
information  from  an  Aramaic  writing  which  was 
a  narrative  of  some  of  the  events  in  Palestine, 
and  in  this  the  name  Saul  was  used.  But  later, 
as  he  labored  more  and  more  among  the  heathen, 
he  made  use  exclusively  of  the  name  Paul.  The 
same  thing  is  apparent  in  the  case  of  John  Mark. 
At  first  both  his  names  are  given,  but  later  he 
is  simply  called  Mark,  because,  as  he  was  among 
the  heathen,  his  Jewish  name  dropped  out  of 
use.  A  similar  example  is  found  in  Col.  iv.  11, 
where  Jesus  is  said  also  to  have  had  the  name  of 
Justus. 

The  time  of  his  birth  and  consequently  his  age 
are  unknown.  There  are  only  two  passages  that 
give  any  hint  as  to  how  old  he  was.  At  the 


92     HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

time  of  the  violent  death  of  Stephen,  probably 
33  or  34,  he  is  spoken  of  as  a  "young  man," 
a  term  which  was  generally  applied  to  those  be- 
tween eighteen  and  thirty  years  of  age.  But  in 
common  speech  it  was  by  no  means  used  with  such 
exactness  that  we  can  conclude  that  Paul  was  no 
more  than  thirty  nor  less  than  eighteen.  In  his 
letter  to  Philemon  (ver.  9)  written  about  62  A.  D., 
he  speaks  of  himself  as  "  Paul  the  aged."  It  is 
scarcely  probable  that  he  would  use  such  language 
of  himself  unless  he  was  at  least  fifty  years  old ; 
but  the  expression  is  indefinite,  and  apparently 
Paul  applied  it  to  himself  in  a  half-playful  way. 

Although  a  Jew  he  was  a  Roman  citizen  ; l  that 
is,  he  had  all  the  rights  which  an  inhabitant  of 
Rome  possessed.  We  do  not  know  how  his  father 
obtained  this  right,  whether  by  service  or  by  pur- 
chase. Of  his  family  we  know  almost  nothing. 
He  had  a  sister  who  lived  at  Jerusalem ;  or,  at 
least,  her  son  was  there.  His  parents  were  of 
the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  and  although  living  among 
the  heathen,  seem  to  have  remained  Jews  of  the 
strictest  sort.  More  than  once  Paul  speaks  of  his 
early  life  and  training,  and  always  emphasizes  the 
fact  that  he  had  been  brought  up  in  accordance 
with  the  strictest  rules  of  Phariseeism.  He  was 
one  of  those  Pharisees  who  with  his  whole  heart 
endeavored  to  keep  the  law. 

Although  he  lived  in  a  university  city,  his  edu- 
cation was  wholly  Jewish.  The  Phariseeism  of  his 

1  Acts  xvi.  37,  xxii.  28,  and  elsewhere. 


BREAKING  THE  JEWISH  BONDS.  93 

family  would  prevent  his  mingling  with  the  stu- 
dents and  professors  of  a  heathen  school.  More- 
over, he  does  not  in  his  writings  show  any  trace  of 
the  Greek  education  of  the  period.  To  be  sure, 
he  quotes  the  Greek  poets.  "  For  we  are  also  his 
offspring  "  (Acts  xvii.  28)  is  a  line  from  Aratus, 
a  Cilician,  and  therefore  a  countryman  of  Paul. 
And  Cleanthus  of  Mysia  had  also  given  expres- 
sion to  the  same  thought.  "  Evil  company  doth 
corrupt  good  manners  "  (1  Cor.  xv.  33)  is  a  quota- 
tion from  Menander.  And  the  very  uncomplimen- 
tary saying  about  the  Cretans  is  from  Epimen- 
ides :  "  Cretans  are  always  liars,  evil  beasts,  idle 
gluttons  "  (Titus  1-12).  But  three  quotations  from 
Greek  poets  by  no  means  prove  that  he  had  a 
Greek  education.  In  the  first  place,  they  are  all 
of  a  proverbial  character,  and  likely  to  be  in  every 
one's  mouth,  just  as  Shakespeare  is  quoted  every 
day  by  many  who  have  never  read  one  of  his  plays. 
Besides,  it  must  be  remembered  that  Paul  had  been 
for  years  associating  in  the  most  intimate  way  with 
Greeks,  and  it  would  be  strange  indeed  if  he  had 
not  become  master  of  many  such  quotations  which 
were  so  commonly  used.  This  was  by  no  means  a 
Greek  education,  for  that  consisted  in  the  study  of 
philosophy,  literature,  and  rhetoric.  His  style  is 
Aramaic  rather  than  Greek.  It  is  far  from  ele- 
gant, and  lacks  clearness.  He  piles  up  words  after 
the  Aramaic  fashion  in  such  a  way  that  it  is  almost 
impossible  to  tell  what  their  connection  and  rela- 
tion are.  From  his  style,  one  would  almost  be 


94    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

persuaded   to  believe  that  he  always  thought  in 
Aramaic,  and  had  to  translate  it  into  Greek. 

It  was  determined  that  he  should  become  a 
Rabbi,  and  for  the  purpose  of  completing  his 
education  he  went  to  Jerusalem,  where  he  chose 
for  his  instructor  Gamaliel,  who  was  famous  as 
one  of  the  most  liberal  and  learned  Rabbis  of  his 
times.  But  whatever  else  he  may  have  got  from 
his  teacher,  he  did  not  get  his  moderate  discriminat- 
ing spirit.  As  a  Hellenist  Rabbi,  he  studied  the 
Old  Testament  in  both  Hebrew  and  Greek.  His 
quotations  from  the  Old  Testament  correspond 
more  closely  to  the  Greek  text  of  the  Septuagint 
than  to  the  Hebrew  text.  The  Aramaic  transla- 
tions of  the  Old  Testament  existed  orally,  though 
probably  they  had  not  yet  been  reduced  to  writing. 
He  got  something  from  these,  for  in  Gal.  iii.  19,  he 
speaks  of  the  law  as  having  been  "  ordained  through 
angels,"  a  fact  which  is  not  stated  in  the  Hebrew 
text  of  the  Old  Testament,  but  is  an  addition  which 
is  found  in  the  Targums.  Again  in  Gal.  iv.  29, 
he  says  that  Esau  persecuted  Jacob,  which  is  also 
an  addition  that  is  found  in  the  Targums,  but  not 
in  the  Hebrew.  He  heard  also  from  his  teacher 
the  traditional  exegesis,  which  consisted  mainly  in 
repeating  what  former  noted  Rabbis  had  said. 
Each  teacher  quoted  the  opinions  of  others  and 
then  added  his  own.  As  a  debater  he  has  seldom 
been  equaled.  His  skill  in  reasoning  is  astonish- 
ing ;  he  heaps  up  arguments  in  the  most  prodigal 
way,  as  if  he  knew  that  his  supply  was  unlimited. 


BREAKING  THE  JEWISH  BONDS.  95 

Everything,  however  unpromising,  was  put  under 
tribute,  and  had  to  furnish  him  with  proofs  and 
arguments.  He  turned  his  opponents'  weapons 
and  made  them  do  service  for  himself. 

It  was  customary  for  every  Rabbi  to  learn  a 
trade,  for  according  to  the  law  they  were  not  al- 
lowed to  receive  pay  for  their  advice  and  instruc- 
tion. But  there  were  many  ways  of  evading  this, 
and  probably  very  few  Rabbis  actually  lived  from 
the  income  of  their  trade.  Paul  had  already 
learned  the  trade  which  was  so  common  in  his 
own  home,  that  of  weaving  coarse  cloth  of  the 
long  wool  of  the  Cilician  goats  and  cutting  it  into 
the  necessary  patterns  for  tents.  How  long  he 
was  in  Jerusalem  it  is  impossible  to  tell.  We 
do  not  know  whether  he  left  Jerusalem  after  com- 
pleting his  studies  and  went  as  a  young  Rabbi  to 
Tarsus,  or  to  some  other  city.  He  may  have  re- 
mained in  Jerusalem,  perhaps,  as  Rabbi  in  the 
synagogue  "of  them  of  Cilicia  and  Asia"  (Acts 
vi.  9).  Nor  do  we  know  whether  he  had  heard 
John  the  Baptist  or  Jesus.  There  is  only  one 
passage  in  all  his  writings  which  can  be  inter- 
preted to  mean  that  he  had  seen  Jesus ;  "  even 
though  we  have  known  Christ  after  the  flesh, 
yet  now  we  know  him  so  no  more"  (2  Cor. 
v.  16).  This  seems  to  say  that  Paul  had  seen 
Christ  in  the  flesh,  that  is,  before  his  death,  and 
all  the  interpretations  of  the  words  which  exclude 
this  meaning  are  somewhat  forced  and  unsatisfac- 
tory. Apparently  he  had  seen  Jesus  while  he  was 


96    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

going  about  as  a  traveling  Rabbi,  and  had  thought 
of  him  accordingly.  But  now,  since  he  had  seen 
him  as  the  risen  and  glorified  Messiah,  he  could 
think  of  him  only  as  such. 

In  Acts  xxvi.  10,  Paul  says  that  when  the  Chris- 
tians were  put  to  death  he  gave  his  "  vote  "  against 
them,  and  from  this  it  has  been  supposed  by  many 
that  he  was  a  member  of  the  Sanhedrin.  But  in 
parallel  passages,  when  speaking  of  the  same 
thing,  a  more  general  expression  is  used.  It  is 
said  that  he  "  consented  "  to  their  death.  It  is 
probable,  therefore,  that  "  vote  "  is  to  be  taken  not 
in  its  technical,  but  in  its  general  sense,  and  that 
it  means  simply  that  Paul  heartily  sympathized 
with  the  harsh  measures  used  to  destroy  heresy. 
Besides,  according  to  the  law,  no  man  who  was 
without  wife  and  children  could  be  elected  to  the 
Sanhedrin.  But  we  do  not  know  whether  this  was 
a  dead  letter  or  not.  Paul  seems  not  to  have  been 
married.  There  is  no  mention  of  wife  or  children. 
On  the  contrary,  in  1  Cor.  vii.  8,  he  advises  the  un- 
married and  widows  to  remain  as  he  is,  that  is, 
unmarried. 

As  to  his  appearance,  we  are  left  to  indirect 
statements  and  inferences.  An  authentic  portrait 
of  Paul  would  be  one  of  the  most  interesting 
things  imaginable,  but  no  such  portrait  exists.  He 
was  probably  small  of  stature,  for  his  opponents 
in  Corinth  said  that  he  could  write  blustering, 
threatening  letters,  as  if  he  were  able  to  do  great 
things,  but  his  bodily  presence  was  weak  and  insig- 


BREAKING  THE  JEWISH  BONDS.  97 

nificant.  At  Lystra,  where  the  enthusiastic  inhab- 
itants were  going  to  pay  divine  honors  to  him  and 
Barnabas,  he  was  called  Hermes,  while  Barnabas 
was  called  Zeus.  In  all  works  of  art,  Zeus  is 
represented  as  of  large  stature  and  with  a  heavy 
beard,  while  Hermes  is  small  and  beardless.  In 
the  Acts  of  Paul  and  Thecla,  the  first  Christian 
romance,  written  about  150  A.  D.,  there  is  a  de- 
scription of  Paul  which  is  probably  based  on  a  true 
tradition.  In  this  he  is  described  as  "a  man 
small  in  size,  bald-headed,  bandy-legged,  well-built, 
with  eyebrows  meeting,  rather  long-nosed,  and  with 
motions  full  of  grace." 

In  Galatians,  and  especially  in  his  letters  to 
the  Corinthians,  there  is  much  said  about  his  suffer- 
ings and  infirmities.  A  sigh  as  of  bodily  pain  and 
sickness  seems  to  be  heard  through  them  all.  His 
body  was  marked  by  rods  and  scourges  and  racked 
by  persecutions,  and  his  health  was  broken  by  the 
many  hardships  which  he  had  experienced.  He 
must  have  had  a  strong  body  and  great  vigor  of 
constitution  to  endure  all  the  violence  that  had 
been  done  him. 

Besides  this,  he  had  also  a  special  suffering, 
some  bodily  ailment,  which  he  called  "  a  thorn  in 
the  flesh,  a  messenger  of  Satan  to  buffet  me,  that 
I  should  not  be  exalted  overmuch  "  (2  Cor.  xii.  7). 
What  it  was  he  does  not  clearly  say,  but  it  is  not 
improbable  that  it  was  a  severe  affliction  of  the 
eyes.  It  must  be  remembered  that  at  the  time  of 
his  conversion  he  is  said  to  have  been  blinded  for 


98     HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

some  time.  In  his  letter  to  the  Galatians  (iv.  13 
ff.),  he  reminds  them  that  it  had  not  been  his  inten- 
tion to  preach  the  gospel  to  them,  but  because  of 
sickness  he  was  prevented  from  pursuing1  his  jour- 
ney, and  had  used  the  time  of  delay  to  make  them 
acquainted  with  the  way  of  life.  His  sickness  was 
of  such  a  character  as  to  make  it  probable  that  the 
Galatians  would  despise  him,  and  because  of  dis- 
gust for  his  bodily  condition  reject  his  message. 
But  they  had  not  been  affected  by  this,  for  Paul 
bears  them  witness  that  they  received  him  with 
honor,  and  were  so  devoted  to  him  that  if  it  had 
been  possible,  they  would  even  have  plucked  out 
their  eyes  and  given  them  to  him.  This  expres- 
sion, taken  in  connection  with  the  fact  that  it  was 
some  bodily  sickness  which  made  it  impossible  for 
him  to  travel,  but  did  not  prevent  him  from  carry- 
ing on  his  evangelistic  work,  makes  it  not  improb- 
able that  it  was  some  affection  of  the  eyes.  Again, 
in  Acts  xxiii.  5,  Paul  did  not  recognize  the  high 
priest,  although  he  must  have  been  very  near  him. 
The  only  explanation  seems  to  be  that  he  could 
not  see  clearly.  Besides  this,  Paul  did  not  write 
his  own  letters,  but  dictated  them  to  some  one  else, 
and  only  at  the  end  with  his  own  hand  added  a 
few  words,  generally  of  salutation.  At  the  end  of 
several  of  his  letters,  he  calls  special  attention  to 
the  fact  that  he  was  himself  adding  the  last  words. 
"  The  salutation  of  me,  Paul,  with  my  own  hand, 
which  is  the  token  in  every  epistle,  so  I  write  " 
(2  Thess.  iii.  17).  He  tells  them  that  he  always 


BREAKING   THE  JEWISH  BONDS.  99 

signed  his  letters  and  that  his  signature  was  the 
sign  of  genuineness.  And  in  Galatians  vi.  11,  he 
says,  "  See  with  what  large  letters  I  am  writing  to 
you  with  my  own  hand."  These  words  refer  to 
what  follows,  and  eall  attention  to  the  peculiarity 
of  his  handwriting.  Like  one  whose  sight  is  dim, 
he  could  write  only  in  large,  scrawling  letters.  It 
seems  to  be  clear,  then,  that  he  suffered  from  some 
affection  of  his  eyes.  This  may  have  been  the 
thorn  of  which  he  speaks,  and  especially,  if  this 
began  about  the  time  of  his  conversion,  it  would 
be  a  forcible  reminder  to  him  of  his  former  oppo- 
sition to  Christ  and  his  people.  But  whatever  this 
thorn  was,  he  regarded  it  as  a  painful,  burdensome, 
and  humiliating  limitation  in  his  work.1 

His  temperament  is  difficult  to  describe,  because 
so  varied,  so  full  of  opposite  extremes.  The  say- 
ing, "  The  style  is  the  man,"  may  be  applied  to 
him  as  perhaps  to  no  other.  If  you  would  form  a 
good  idea  of  him,  read  all  his  letters  with  this  one 
thing  in  view.  Note  the  rapid  changes  in  him. 
How  he  opens  his  heart  to  the  Philippians ! 
Though  in  prison,  his  heart  is  full  of  sunshine, 
and  his  expressions  of  gratitude  to  them  for  their 
gift  are  simple,  hearty,  and  touching.  But  here 
we  have  only  one  side  of  him.  In  Galatians  and 
2  Corinthians  we  have  the  whole  man.  It  is  in 

1  Krenkel  is  decidedly  of  the  opinion  that  Paul  was  subject  to 
epilepsy,  and  that  this  was  the  thorn  of  which  he  speaks.  He 
has  collected  much  material  on  the  subject,  but  has  not  made  a 
strong  case  at  all. 


100    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

these  especially  that  the  extremes  in  his  nature  are 
revealed  lying  side  by  side.  It  is  in  these  that  he 
displays  such  tenderness  and  gentleness,  such  joy 
and  peace,  such  confidence  and  happiness,  and  at 
the  same  time  such  indignation  and  anger,  such 
sorrow  and  unrest,  such  discontent  and  discourage- 
ment. In  the  same  breath  he  writes  the  most 
biting  sarcasm  and  the  truest  pathos.  Words  of 
irony  and  gratitude  follow  each  other  in  quick  suc- 
cession from  his  pen.  In  one  moment  he  is  all 
anger  and  threats,  the  next  he  is  all  tenderness 
and  beseeching.  He  could  say  hard  and  bitter  as 
well  as  pleasant  things.  His  feelings  were  most 
changeable,  his  faith  most  abiding.  His  ideas  out- 
ran his  utterance,  and  he  often  left  one  sentence 
unfinished  and  passed  to  another,  hurried  on  by 
the  flood  of  thoughts  and  rush  of  feelings.  Natu- 
rally he  was  not  of  a  harmonious  nature.  Men  of 
such  extremes  never  are.  But  he  had  obtained 
from  God,  in  the  school  of  Christ,  that  deeper  har- 
mony which  made  him  what  he  was.  The  great- 
ness of  the  work  of  grace  in  him  is  clearly  shown 
in  Phil.  i.  12-26.  He  had  personal  enemies  in 
Home,  some  who  were  envious  of  him,  and  through 
envy  and  strife  were  preaching  only  that  they 
might  surpass  him,  and  have  a  larger  following 
and  greater  reputation  among  the  Christians  in 
Rome  than  he,  but  their  envy  did  not  move  him. 
His  only  answer  was  "  What  then  ?  Only  that  in 
every  way,  whether  in  pretense  or  in  truth,  Christ 
is  proclaimed ;  and  therein  I  rejoice,  yea,  and  will 


BREAKING  THE  JEWISH  BONDS.         101 

rejoice."  One  feels  his  great  heart  throb  in  every 
line  of  his  second  letter  to  the  Corinthians.  He 
wrote  it  unwillingly,  but  the  situation  forced  it 
from  him.  It  is  impossible  not  to  feel  his  pain 
and  anguish,  as  one  reads  this  painful  defense  of 
himself.  But  his  heart  shines  out  through  it  all, 
and  some  of  the  passages  in  it  are  unsurpassable 
in  their  eloquent  pathos.  Who  else  could  have 
written  such  words  as  these  ?  "  Are  they  Hebrews  ? 
so  am  I.  Are  they  Israelites  ?  so  am  I.  Are  they 
the  seed  of  Abraham  ?  so  am  I.  Are  they  minis- 
ters of  Christ?  (I  speak  as  one  beside  himself) 
I  more ;  in  labors  more  abundantly,  in  prisons 
more  .abundantly,  in  stripes  above  measure,  in 
deaths  oft.  Of  the  Jews  five  times  received  I 
forty  stripes  save  one.  Thrice  was  I  beaten  with 
rods,  once  was  I  stoned,  thrice  I  suffered  ship- 
wreck, a  night  and  a  day  have  I  been  in  the  deep ; 
in  journeyings  often,  in  perils  of  rivers,  in  perils  of 
robbers,  in  perils  from  my  countrymen,  in  perils 
from  the  Gentiles,  in  perils  in  the  city,  in  perils  in 
the  wilderness,  in  perils  in  the  sea,  in  perils  among 
false  brethren  ;  in  labor  and  travail,  in  watchings 
often,  in  hunger  and  thirst,  in  fastings  often,  in 
cold  and  nakedness.  Beside  those  things  that  are 
without,  there  is  that  which  presseth  upon  me 
daily,  anxiety  for  all  the  churches.  Who  is  weak, 
and  I  am  not  weak  ?  who  is  made  to  stumble,  and 
I  burn  not  ?  "  (2  Cor.  xi.  22-29).  "  Giving  no  oc- 
casion of  stumbling  in  anything,  that  our  ministra- 
tion be  not  blamed ;  but  in  everything  commend- 


102    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHUECH. 

ing  ourselves,  as  ministers  of  God,  in  much  patience, 
in  afflictions,  in  necessities,  in  distresses,  in  stripes, 
in  imprisonments,  in  tumults,  in  labors,  in  watch- 
ings,  in  fastings  ;  in  pureness,  in  knowledge,  in 
long-suffering,  in  kindness,  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  in 
love  unfeigned,  in  the  word  of  truth,  in  the  power 
of  God;  by  the  armor  of  righteousness  on  the 
right  hand  and  on  the  left,  by  glory  and  dis- 
honor, by  evil  report  and  good  report ;  as  deceiv- 
ers, and  yet  true  ;  as  unknown,  and  yet  well  known  ; 
as  dying,  and  behold  we  live ;  as  chastened,  and 
not  killed  ;  as  sorrowful,  yet  alway  rejoicing  ;  as 
poor,  yet  making  many  rich ;  as  having  nothing, 
and  yet  possessing  all  things"  (2  Cor.  vi.  3-10). 

The  first  mention  made  of  him  is  in  connection 
with  the  death  of  Stephen,  Acts  vii.  58.  It  is 
said,  vi.  9,  that  Stephen  disputed  with  men  from 
two  synagogues.  The  one  of  these  was  frequented 
by  Libertines,  Cyrenians,  and  Alexandrians.  The 
Libertines  were  Jews  who  had  been  carried  off  to 
Rome  as  prisoners,  but  had  been  set  free.  The 
other  synagogue  was  frequented  by  Cilicians  and 
people  from  other  parts  of  Asia  Minor.  Now 
Tarsus  was  in  Cilicia,  and  it  was  quite  natural 
that  Paul  should  be  connected  with  that  syna- 
gogue. It  is  very  probable,  then,  that  Paul  was 
one  of  the  opponents  of  Stephen,  and  if  he  were 
the  principal  opponent  it  would  account  for  the 
fact  that  the  witnesses  "  laid  down  their  clothes  at 
the  feet  of  a  young  man  named  Saul." 

It  is  characteristic  of  him  and  of  his  zeal  that 


BREAKING  THE  JEWISH  BONDS.         103 

he  himself  went  to  the  high  priest  and  asked  for  a 
commission  to  persecute.  It  is  probable  that  his 
connection  with  the  death  of  Stephen  was  well 
known,  and  was  looked  upon  as  a  recommendation 
of  his  fitness  for  the  work.  At  any  rate,  some- 
thing made  them  think  that  he  would  make  a  good 
heresy-hunter  ;  so  they  granted  his  request,  and 
gave  him  letters  of  recommendation,  and  author- 
ity to  persecute,  even  far  beyond  the  bounda- 
ries of  Palestine.  In  many  places  the  Jews  had 
extraordinary  jurisdiction,  and  special  judicial 
rights,  having  courts  of  their  own  and  following 
their  own  laws  and  methods  of  procedure ;  so 
that  there  is  nothing  surprising  about  this  com- 
mission of  Paul. 

As  a  persecutor  he  showed  great  activity  and 
ability.  We  have  almost  no  details  of  his  work, 
but  some  general  statements  give  us  a  good  idea 
of  it.  He  imprisoned  men  and  women,  scourged 
some,  and  urged  that  others  be  put  to  death.  In 
his  persecuting  zeal,  he  went  to  other  cities  and 
won  great  fame.  The  Christians  at  Damascus 
knew  of  his  destructive  work,  and  feared  to  trust 
him,  although  he  claimed  to  have  been  converted. 
It  was  his  glory  then,  because  he  thought  he  was 
pleasing  God  ;  but  afterwards  it  was  the  source  of 
unbounded  sorrow  to  him.  He  seems  never  to 
have  forgot  it  even  for  a  moment.  How  often  he 
quotes  it  against  himself !  He  was  not  fit  to  be 
called  an  apostle,  because  he  had  persecuted  the 
church  of  God.  It  kept  him  always  humble,  and 


104    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

was  a  constant  spur  to  greater  endeavors  in  his 
missionary  work,  that  if  possible  he  might  make 
good  all  the  damage  he  had  done  in  his  mad  zeal. 

Of  his  conversion  we  have  three  accounts  in  the 
Acts,  besides  some  scattered  references  to  it  in  his 
letters.  "  Have  I  not  seen  Jesus  our  Lord?  "  he 
asks  the  Corinthians  (1  Cor.  ix.  1).  This  is  un- 
doubtedly to  be  referred  to  the  vision  which  he 
had  of  the  risen  Messiah  at  the  time  of  his  con- 
version. Again  in  the  fifteenth  chapter,  when  re- 
counting the  appearance  of  Jesus,  he  says,  "  And 
last  of  all,  as  unto  one  born  out  of  due  time,  he  ap- 
peared to  me  also."  It  is  difficult  to  understand 
these  words  in  any  other  way  than  that  Paul  be- 
lieved that  he  had  seen  the  Christ  with  his  bodily 
eyes.  But  in  Gal.  i.  IT  he  uses  language  that  is 
somewhat  different :  "  But  when  it  was  the  good 
pleasure  of  God  to  reveal  his  Son  in  me."  This 
alone  might  be  interpreted  as  a  purely  mental 
process.  The  three  accounts  in  the  Acts  agree 
rather  with  the  former  than  with  the  latter.  They 
are  found  in  chapters  ix.,  xxii.,  and  xxvi.  There 
are  some  verbal  differences,  and  the  details  are 
treated  differently.  But  it  is  the  same  picture, 
although  the  colors  vary.  The  differences  are 
rhetorical,  and  do  not  affect  the  important  part  of 
the  narrative. 

In  the  ninth  chapter  it  is  said  that  the  men 
stood  speechless  ;  according  to  the  twenty-sixth, 
they  all  fell  to  the  earth.  In  the  ninth  chapter 
they  heard  the  voice,  but  saw  no  one ;  while  in  the 


BREAKING  THE  JEWISH  BONDS.         105 

twenty-second  they  saw  the  light,  but  did  not  hear 
the  voice.  In  the  ninth  and  twenty-second,  Paid 
is  told  to  go  into  Damascus,  and  there  it  should  be 
told  him  what  he  was  to  do.  But,  according  to 
the  twenty-sixth,  Christ  tells  him  at  once  what  his 
mission  is.  It  is  difficult  to  harmonize  all  these 
without  doing  violence  to  some  of  the  language, 
but  there  are  certain  things  that  remain  fixed 
in  spite  of  these  differences. 

Leaving  out  of  account  the  various  things  which 
are  doubtful,  those  that  are  fixed  may  be  summed 
up  as  follows :  The  time  of  the  occurrence,  about 
midday ;  the  place,  near  Damascus  ;  the  purpose 
of  the  journey,  to  persecute  the  Christians ;  the 
sudden  and  unexpected  appearance  of  Jesus  be- 
fore him,  surrounded  by  a  light  which  blinded 
Paul  and  symbolized  the  glory  of  his  present  ex- 
alted position  as  the  Messiah  at  the  right  hand  of 
God;  the  complete  and  instantaneous  change  in 
Paul's  attitude  to  Jesus,  —  in  one  moment  he 
was  a  persecutor,  in  the  next  he  was  a  believer  in 
his  Messiahship ;  and  lastly,  his  call  to  preach  the 
gospel  to  the  heathen.  All  these  except  the  first 
two  are  corroborated  more  or  less  directly  by  those 
of  Paul's  letters,  which  are  unquestionably  authen- 
tic. However  they  may  be  explained,  they  can 
hardly  be  questioned  as  historical  facts.  Paul  be- 
lieved in  the  absolute  reality  of  this  appearance. 
It  was  not  a  vision  or  dream ;  he  actually  saw  the 
glorified  Christ.  He  had  seen  him  just  as  the 
others  had  seen  him.  It  certainly  is  a  strong 


106    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

corroboration  of  this,  that  all  Paul's  thought  cen- 
tres about  Jesus  as  the  risen  and  glorified  Messiah. 
It  is  not  the  man  Jesus,  who  appeared  as  a  humble 
and  obedient  servant,  but  the  living,  exalted  Mes- 
siah that  Paul  preached.  It  was  the  fact  that 
although  Jesus  had  been  put  to  death  he  still  lived 
in  heaven,  that  so  changed  Paul  and  convinced 
him  of  his  Messiahship.  And  it  is  from  this  point 
of  view  that  he  formed  all  his  opinions  about  him. 
All  his  theology  is  developed  from  this  belief. 
There  is  absolutely  no  indication  of  any  prepara- 
tion for  this  sudden  change  in  him ;  there  is  no 
period  of  doubt,  hesitation,  and  inquiry  preceding 
the  change  of  his  belief.  He  himself  connected  his 
conversion  with  the  appearance  of  Jesus.  From 
the  same  time  and  event  he  dates  his  call  to  the 
apostleship.  From  the  very  beginning  he  was  the 
apostle  to  the  Gentiles.  He  knew  from  that  time 
what  his  work  was  to  be.  He  was  so  sure  of  this 
that  he  never  thought  of  saying  anything  about  it 
to  the  Twelve,  or  to  any  one  else.  From  Christ 
himself  he  received  his  command  to  go  to  the 
heathen ;  he  did  not  need  to  have  this  sanctioned 
by  any  one  of  the  Twelve.  He  did  not  think  it 
necessary  to  know  what  the  life  of  Christ  had 
been,  he  did  not  ask  about  the  details  of  it.  They 
were  to  him  unimportant.  He  knew  that  he  had 
lived  and  died,  but  the  important  thing  was  that 
he  was  now  alive.  "  His  gospel "  was  all  con- 
tained in  that,  for  it  is  simply  the  interpretation 
and  explanation  of  the  death  and  resurrection  of 


BREAKING  THE  JEWISH  BONDS.         107 

Christ ;  and  his  death  as  well  as  everything  else 
he  interpreted  in  the  light  of  the  resurrection. 
Paul  strove  to  explain  and  define  these  as  110  other 
writer  of  the  New  Testament,  and  it  is  on  this 
account' that  theology  is  so  largely  based  on  Paul's 
writings. 

In  regard  to  Paul's  conversion  and  the  source 
of  his  gospel,  it  must  be  remembered  that  Paul 
was  a  Pharisee  of  the  strictest  type,  and  therefore 
had  the  same  ideas,  hopes,  and  expectations  about 
the  Messiah,  his  coming,  his  reign,  and  his  atti- 
tude to  the  heathen,  as  prevailed  among  the 
Pharisees  at  that  time.  They  believed  that  the 
coming  of  the  Messiah  was  dependent  on  the  con- 
dition of  his  people.  Before  he  could  appear,  his 
people  must  be  holy,  must  be  justified  by  keeping 
the  law  perfectly,  for  that  was  the  only  way  for 
the  people  to  be  justified.  Justification  consisted 
in  the  complete  observance  of  the  law.  Holi- 
ness was  the  result  of  doing  something,  while 
Christ  had  said  that  it  is  of  the  heart  and  not  of 
actions.  It  was  this  explanation  of  holiness  that 
made  the  Pharisee  so  zealous  for  the  law.  This, 
then,  was  one  radical  point  of  difference,  and 
hence  the  cause  of  enmity  and  opposition,  between 
them  and  Jesus.  This  was  one  great  stumbling- 
block  in  the  way  of  the  Jews.  But  a  greater  one 
was  the  death  of  Jesus  on  the  cross.  This  was  to 
Paul  inexplicable.  It  was  so  contrary  to  their 
expectations,  so  different  from  their  ideas  of  the 
unbroken  reign  of  splendor  which  the  royal  Mes- 


108    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

siah  should  enjoy.     It  was  treason  to  the  Messiah 
to  entertain  such  a  thought  of  him. 

Now  Paul  was  so  thoroughly  persuaded  of  all 
this  that  he  was  persecuting  all  those  who  believed 
in  the  Messiahship  of  Jesus,  when,  on  his  way  to 
Damascus,  he  was  suddenly  confronted  by  the  one 
who  he  knew  had  died  a  violent  and  shameful 
death.  But  his  appearance  to  him  was  proof  that 
he  was  alive  again.  For  Paul,  there  was  no  ques- 
tion about  this  fact,  for  he  had  seen  him  and  talked 
with  him.  The  fact  that  he  was  alive  again  put 
his  death  in  a  new  light.  It  showed  that  it  could 
not  have  been  a  misfortune,  an  unforeseen  accident, 
but  that  it  was  a  part  of  God's  plan.  His  death 
must  have  been  of  his  own  free  will,  for  otherwise 
who  could  injure  God's  Messiah  ?  There  were 
some  passages  in  the  Old  Testament  that  had 
come  to  be  applied  to  the  Messiah  which  spoke 
of  his  sufferings.  They  had  been  obscured  and 
disregarded  because  of  the  ideas  which  were  pre- 
valent in  regard  to  his  glory  and  power.  But  now 
their  meaning  was  clear  to  Paul.  The  mysterious 
words  of  the  prophet  Isaiah,  that  the  suffering  Ser- 
vant should  make  himself,  his  life  (not  sow/,  as  it 
is  commonly  translated,  but  self,  lifv),  an  offering 
for  sin,  were  now  explained  by  the  death  of  Jesus, 
and  the  death  of  Jesus  was  explained  by  them. 
He  was  himself  by  his  obedient  death  the  sin- 
offering  for  his  people,  and  thereby  had  obtained 
justification  for  them.  It  was  a  new  idea  that  the 
Messiah  should  by  his  death  justify  his  people. 


BREAKING  THE  JEWISH  BONDS.          109 

Justification,  then,  was  not  to  be  got  by  the  works 
of  the  law,  but  by  the  work  and  death  of  the 
Messiah.  It  was  wholly  his  work,  the  people  had 
but  to  receive  it.  It  follows  necessarily,  then, 
that  he  could  bestow  it  on  whom  he  would.  No 
one  could  have  any  claim  to  what  was  wholly  his. 
It  was  all  a  matter  of  grace,  and  not  of  keeping 
the  law. 

Paul  had  supposed  that  the  Gentiles  were  to 
receive  justification  in  the  same  way  as  the  Jews, 
namely,  through  the  observance  of  the  law.  But 
it  had  now  become  clear  to  him  that  the  Jews 
were  to  get  it  in  another  way, —  from  the  favor 
and  mercy  of  the  Messiah ;  and  it  seemed  the 
natural  consequence  that  the  heathen  should  ob- 
tain it  in  the  same  way,  namely,  through  faith  in 
him.  With  this  conviction  that  Jesus  was  the 
Messiah,  whose  death  was  the  sin-offering,  the  law 
at  once  fell  away.  Paul  had  entirely  misunder- 
stood it  and  its  purposes.  It  now  assumed  an 
entirely  different  character  in  his  eyes.  It  was 
this,  his  conception  of  the  importance  and  mean- 
ing of  Christ's  death  and  resurrection,  that  was 
his  gospel.  It  was  not  that  he  differed  from  the 
others  in  the  facts  which  he  preached,  but  in  the 
interpretation  of  them. 

And  now  began  his  remarkable  career  as  an 
itinerant  evangelist.  With  feverish  zeal  he  be- 
gan his  life  of  wandering,  which  was  interrupted 
only  by  his  imprisonment  and  ended  by  his  death, 
—  a  life  full  of  toil  and  suffering,  of  want  and  dan- 


110    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

ger,  of  violence  and  pain,  of  "  hair-breadth  'scapes 
by  flood  and  field,"  glimpses  into  which  are  given 
u£  especially  in  his  second  letter  to  the  Corinthians. 
"  Woe  is  me  if  I  preach  not  the  gospel "  was  the 
sentiment  that  took  overpowering  possession  of 
him,  and  drove  him  on  with  unflagging  steps. 
Not  that  it  was  a  burden  to  him ;  on  the  con- 
trary, it  was  his  meat  and  drink,  his  joy  and 
comfort,  his  very  life.  So  wholly  surrendered 
was  he  to  the  Messiah  who  appeared  to  him  on 
the  way  to  Damascus,  so  eager  to  obey  him,  to 
act  in  accordance  with  his  will  and  desire,  to  live 
for  him  and  labor  in  his  spirit,  that  it  was  possible 
for  him  to  say,  "  I  live  no  longer,  but  Christ  lives 
in  me,"  his  will  and  powers  and  personality 
were  so  completely  swallowed  up  and  made  iden- 
tical with  those  of  Christ. 

Paul  remained  but  a  short  time  at  Damascus, 
but  even  there  he  began  to  preach  that  Jesus  is 
the  Messiah.  The  call  to  preach  among  the 
heathen  was  an  immediate  one  (Gal.  i.  15-17), 
and  he  at  once  went  into  Arabia  and  began  his 
work.  The  name  Arabia  was  applied  to  all  the 
territory  south  of  Palestine,  and  also  to  that  east 
of  the  Jordan,  almost  as  far  north  as  Damascus ; 
It  was  at  this  time  a  part  of  what  was  called 
Nabataea,  and  was  ruled  by  a  king  named  Aretas. 
Undoubtedly  he  spent  his  time  there  in  preaching 
Christ.  It  was  not  a  time  of  meditation,  but  of 
earnest  work.1  With  what  success  he  was  at- 
1  See  chapter  vii.  p.  206. 


BREAKING  THE  JEWISH  BONDS.         Ill 

tended  we  do  not  know.  But  he  returned  to 
Damascus,  where,  according  to  the  Acts,  the 
Jews  tried  to  take  his  life.  But  in  2  Cor.  xi. 
32,  33,  Paul  throws  a  different  light  on  this.  He 
says  it  was  the  governor  under  Aretas  that  watched 
the  gates  in  order  to  seize  him.  It  is  not  too  keen 
a  supposition  that  Paul  met  with  violent  opposition 
in  Arabia  and  was  opposed  by  Aretas,  and  had  to 
flee  for  his  life.  But  the  danger  did  not  cease 
here,  for  even  in  Damascus  the  governor  of  the 
city  tried  to  seize  him.  This  is  indeed  very  prob- 
able, for  there  was  nothing  else  so  dangerous  to  a 
government  under  which  there  were  many  Jews 
than  the  proclamation  of  a  Messiah.  It  was  a 
time  in  which  false  Messiahs  were  numerous,  and 
wherever  they  appeared  they  succeeded  in  win- 
ning many  followers,  and  always  caused  the  gov- 
ernment a  great  deal  of  trouble.  The  preaching 
of  Paul  was  that  Jesus  was  the  Messiah ;  and  there 
was  nothing  that  would  more  quickly  cause  a  com- 
motion than  such  a  message.  Just  as  the  Roman 
governors  were  fearful  of  such  a  movement,  so 
Aretas,  who  was  more  familiar  with  the  Jews 
and  their  beliefs,  thought  that  this  was  danger- 
ous to  his  own  position,  for  he  would  naturally 
attach  the  idea  of  a  temporal  rule  to  the  Messiah- 
ship  of  Jesus  which  Paul  was  preaching.  It  is 
but  natural,  therefore,  that  he  attempted  to  seize 
Paul. 

The  two  accounts  contained  in  2  Cor.  xi.  32,  33, 
and  Acts  ix.   23-25,  may  be  harmonized,  for  we 


112    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

know  that  everywhere  the  Jews  developed  the 
most  bitter  hatred  against  Paul.  At  any  rate 
they  undoubtedly  refer  to  the  same  event.  But 
Paul  escaped  the  danger  by  being  let  down  in  a 
basket  through  an  opening  in  the  wall. 

The  whole  story  of  Aretas  and  his  connection 
with  Paul  was  for  a  long  time  questioned,  but 
without  sufficient  grounds.  For  the  latest  re- 
searches have  shown  that  there  is  really  nothing 
known  that  can  be  urged  against  the  truthfulness 
of  the  narrative.  Aretas  IV.  was  king  of  Arabia 
Nabatsea,  whose  capital  was  Petrea.  His  king- 
dom included  a  large  part  of  the  Sinaitic  penin- 
sula, and  extended  far  up  on  the  east  side  of  the 
Jordan.  He  was  a  warlike  man,  a  skillful  gen- 
eral, and  an  able  ruler.  It  is  impossible  to  say 
just  when  he  got  control  of  Damascus,  as  we 
have  no  exact  information  about  it.  But  it  is  a 
very  significant  fact  that  the  coins  of  Damascus 
from  the  year  33  A.  D.  to  63  A.  D.  do  not  bear 
the  image  of  the  Roman  Emperor.  But  before  33, 
and  after  63,  they  again  appear  bearing  the  Em- 
peror's likeness.  This  fact  shows  conclusively 
that  during  this  period  the  city  did  not  owe 
allegiance  directly  to  the  Emperor,  but  was  under 
some  other  ruler.  So  that  it  is  possible  that 
Aretas  IV.  had  control  of  Damascus  during  this 
whole  period.1 

How  long  Paul  was  in  Arabia  it  is  impossible  to 
say.  We  know  only  that  three  years  after  his  con- 
1  See  SchUrer,  i.  609  ff. 


BREAKING  THE  JEWISH  BONDS.         113 

version  he  went  up  to  Jerusalem,  and  it  is  prob- 
able that  this  was  soon  after  he  escaped  from 
Damascus.  The  object  of  his  visit,  he  himself 
tells  us,  was  to  make  the  acquaintance  of  Peter. 
The  account  of  this  in  Acts  x.  26-30  would,  if 
that  were  all  we  had  in  regard  to  it,  lead  us  to 
suppose  that  he  remained  there  a  long  time,  and 
played  an  important  part  in  the  work  of  the  con- 
gregation there.  But  Paul  tells  us  that  he  was 
there  only  fifteen  days,  and  that  he  saw  none  of 
the  disciples  except  Peter  and  James  the  brother 
of  Jesus.  His  brief  stay,  therefore,  would  exclude 
such  an  interpretation  of  the  passage  in  Acts. 
But  it  is  hardly  to  be  supposed  that  Paul  was 
idle  at  this  time.  He  attempted  to  join  himself 
to  the  Christians,  but  they  were  afraid  of  him, 
thinking  that  he  was  endeavoring  in  this  way  to 
learn  all  about  them,  that  he  might  the  more  easily 
cause  their  arrest.  But  Barnabas  had  in  some 
way  learned  of  his  conversion  and  work,  and  was 
able  to  assure  the  Christians  in  Jerusalem  that  he 
was  no  longer  a  persecutor.  It  is  impossible  to 
think  that  Paul  could  be  silent.  His  zeal  never 
slumbered,  and  so  here  at  Jerusalem,  in  the  same 
place  where  he  had  made  his  reputation  as  a  per- 
secutor, he  began  to  bear  witness  to  Christ.  But 
his  activity  quickly  brought  him  into  danger.  Of 
all  men's  preaching,  that  of  Paul  would  be  most 
offensive  to  the  Jews.  To  them  he  was  a  second 
Balaam,  for  they  had  sent  him  out  to  destroy  the 
sect  of  the  Nazarenes,  but  he  came  b^ck  an  ear- 


114     HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

nest  preacher  and  defender  of  the  hated  doctrines. 
Of  course  they  were  enraged  at  this,  and,  with 
the  Jewish  violence  characteristic  of  that  period  of 
their  history,  they  attempted  to  kill  him.  He  was 
able  to  escape  them,  and  set  out  for  his  home  in 
Tarsus.  This  must  have  been  some  time  about  37 
or  38  A.  D. 

The  next  information  we  have  about  him  is  that, 
about  43  or  44,  Barnabas  brought  him  from  Tarsus 
to  Antioch  to  help  in  spreading  the  gospel  among 
the  heathen  there.  What  was  he  doing  in  the 
mean  time?  Here  are  at  least  five  or  six  years  of 
which  we  have  no  account.  There  is  not  a  word 
about  him  in  all  this  time.  Is  it  because  he  was 
doing  nothing?  Many  have  treated  this  as  if  it 
were  a  matter  of  course  that  Paul  went  back  to 
Tarsus,  sat  down  and  folded  his  hands,  and  waited 
for  something  to  turn  up.  And  the  thing  that 
finally  did  turn  up  was  Barnabas  with  the  request 
to  come  to  Antioch.  But  all  such  have  failed  to 
appreciate  the  true  character  of  Paul.  He  was 
preaching,  of  course,  as  may  be  seen  from  many 
indications.  In  the  first  place,  we  learn  from 
Acts  xv.  23  that  there  were  "brethren  of  the 
Gentiles  in  Antioch,  Syria,  and  Cilicia"  but 
nothing  is  said  about  how  Christianity  was  car- 
ried into  Cilicia.  But,  since  Paul  was  several 
years  there,  it  is  easily  explained.  Again,  when 
Paul  and  Barnabas  set  out  on  their  first  mission- 
ary journey  they  went  first  to  Cyprus,  which  was 
the  home  of  Barnabas,  and  then,  not  to  Cilicia, 


BREAKING  THE  JEWISH  BONDS.         115 

which  was  Paul's  home,  but  to  Asia  Minor,  land- 
ing just  west  of  Cilicia,  and  made  a  tour  through 
the  provinces  that  bordered  Cilicia.  Undoubtedly, 
therefore,  he  had  already  evangelized  Cilicia  dur- 
ing these  years  of  which  we  know  so  little. 

Again,  Acts  xi.  25,  it  is  simply  said  that  Bar- 
nabas went  to  seek  for  Saul ;  but  why  he  should 
have  thought  of  Saul  for  this  place,  it  is  not  said. 
That  is  also  easily  explained,  for  Paul  had  already 
become  widely  known  because  of  his  labors.  He 
had  already  a  great  reputation,  and  on  this  account 
Barnabas  thought  he  should  be  brought  to  this 
promising  field.  But  we  have  also  what  amounts 
to  a  positive  statement  by  Paul  himself,  that  he 
spent  these  years  in  the  work.  In  Galatians, 
when  explaining  his  exact  connection  and  inter- 
course with  the  apostles  and  the  church  at  Jerusa- 
lem, he  says  (i.  22,  23),  "And  I.  was  still  unknown 
by  face  unto  the  churches  of  Judaea  which  were  in 
Christ ;  but  they  only  heard  say,  He  that  once  per- 
secuted us  now  preacheth  the  faith  of  which  he 
once  made  havoc."  And  when  we  take  this  in 
connection  with  the  verse  which  precedes  it,  we 
have  the  fullest  proof  that  he  was  not  idle,  but 
was,  during  all  this  time,  the  same  restless,  eager 
evangelist  with  whom  we  later  become  acquainted 
in  the  Acts  and  in  his  letters. 

Of  his  labors  in  Antioch  we  know  almost  no- 
thing, except  that  he  was  there  "  for  a  whole  year," 
and  that  the  congregation  rapidly  increased.  It 
is  somewhat  difficult  to  fix  the  account  in  Acts 


116     HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

xi.  27-30  and  xii.  25.  According  to  this,  Agabus, 
a  prophet  from  Jerusalem,  came  down  to  Antioch 
and  foretold  "  that  there  should  be  a  great  famine 
over  all  the  world,  which  came  to  pass  in  the  days 
of  Claudius."  Allowing  for  the  common  hyper- 
bole, it  may  be  said  that  there  is  no  difficulty 
about  this  part  of  the  account,  for  as  a  matter  of 
fact  the  reign  of  Claudius  was  noted  for  the  great 
number  of  local  famines  that  occurred.  From  44 
to  48  A.  D.,  there  was  much  want  and  suffering  in 
many  parts  of  the  empire.  The  point  of  difficulty, 
however,  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  is  said  that  Paul 
and  Barnabas  both  went  to  Jerusalem  with  the 
contribution,  while  in  Galatians  Paul  says  that 
fourteen  years  elapsed  between  his  first  and  sec- 
ond visits  to  Jerusalem,  and  the  second  visit  was 
undoubtedly  the  same  one  that  is  described  in 
the  fifteenth  chapter  of  Acts.  A  satisfactory  ex- 
planation of  this  contradiction  has  not  yet  been 
made.1 

Again  we  come  to  a  long  period  of  which  we 
have  very  little  information.  The  so-called  coun- 
cil which  is  described  in  Acts  xv.  must  have  taken 
place  in  the  year  50,  or  early  in  the  year  51.  But, 

1  Of  course,  for  one  who  admits  that  it  is  possible  for  the 
author  of  the  Acts  to  have  made  a  mistake,  the  passage  pre- 
sents no  difficulty  ;  for  such  a  one  would  simply  say,  Luke  was 
misinformed,  and  hence  was  wrong  in  saying  that  Paul  went  to 
Jerusalem  with  the  collection.  For  it  is  not  to  he  supposed  that 
Paul  was  in  error  when  he  assured  the  Galatiaus  that  for  fourteen 
years  he  was  not  iii  Judaea,  and  they  knew  of  him  only  by  hear- 
say. 


BREAKING  THE  JEWISH  BONDS.          117 

by  the  most  liberal  reckoning,  the  year's  residence 
of  Paul  and  Barnabas  in  Antioch  would  bring  us 
to  the  year  44  or  45  at  the  most.  For  all  this 
intervening  period  of  five  years  at  least,  we  have 
no  information  except  what  is  contained  in  the 
thirteenth  and  fourteenth  chapters.  In  these  we 
have  an  account  of  what  is  called  Paul's  first  mis- 
sionary journey,  but  it  is  impossible  that  it  should 
have  filled  out  the  whole  period.  It  can  hardly 
have  lasted  more  than  a  year  or  two.  Besides,  we 
have  no  means  of  telling  whether  this  took  place 
early  in  this  period  or  toward  the  end  of  it.  This 
shows  how  scanty  our  sources  of  knowledge  about 
this  period  are.  Of  one  thing  only  are  we  sure, 
namely,  that  Paul  continued  his  work,  but  where 
and  with  what  success  it  is  impossible  to  say.  It 
is  a  curious  fact  that  we  have  so  little  information 
about  Paul  and  his  work  until  after  the  council  at 
Jerusalem.  So  much,  however,  is  clear:  he  was 
working  among  the  heathen,  and  laying  the  foun- 
dation for  the  great  Gentile  Christian  church.  He 
was  doing  this  without  any  opposition  from  the 
Jewish  Christians,  for  they  were  yet  in  ignorance 
of  his  principles  and  methods.  When  they  did 
come  with  this  demand  it  was  too  late ;  Chris- 
tianity among  the  heathen,  without  any  of  the 
legal  observances,  was  already  a  success,  so  that 
Paul  and  his  fellow  -  workers  could  point  with 
triumph  to  the  Gentile  Christian  congregations, 
for  the  work  of  grace  in  them  differed  in  no  re- 
spect from  that  among  the  Jewish  Christians. 


118     HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHUECH. 

Although  we  know  so  little  of  these  years,  yet 
one  thing  is  certain :  Paul  was  already  known 
and  recognized  as  the  apostle  to  the  Gentiles.  It 
was  because  of  this  that  he  had  suffered  persecu- 
tion in  Damascus.  And  when  he  went  to  Jerusa- 
lem to  the  council,  in  the  year  50,  the  apostles 
there  admitted  that  Paul  had  been  intrusted  with 
the  gospel  to  the  uncircumcised.  That  was  the 
reputation  which  he  had  already  made  for  himself. 

During  this  time  Christianity  was  firmly  estab- 
lished in  Antioch,  and  Paul  in  accordance  with  his 
calling,  which  was  that  of  a  missionary,  began  to 
look  about  for  a  new  field.  Under  these  circum- 
stances the  Holy  Spirit  said,  "  Separate  me  Bar- 
nabas and  Saul  for  the  work  whereunto  I  have 
called  them."  It  is  not  necessary,  in  fact  it  is 
wrong,  to  attribute  this  to  some  supernatural  and 
uncommon  manifestation.  According  to  the  way 
of  thinking  and  speaking  of  the  early  Christians, 
every  good  work  was  inspired  by,  and  done  in,  the 
Holy  Spirit,  and  hence  was  attributed  directly  to 
him.  And  just  as  every  good  impulse  was  referred 
to  the  influence  or  voice  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  so 
this  beginning  of  what  may  be  called  foreign  mis- 
sions is  said  to  have  been  made  in  accordance  with 
his  commands. 

It  is  difficult  to  say  what  the  ceremony  of  the 
laying  on  of  hands  meant  to  them.  Paul  certainly 
did  not  regard  it  as  conferring  any  authority  or 
power  on  him,  for  he  everywhere  repudiates  with 
the  greatest  vehemence  the  thought  that  he  was  in 


BREAKING  THE  JEWISH  BONDS.          119 

any  way  indebted  to  any  one  but  Christ  for  his 
command  and  authority.  According  to  this,  Paul 
cannot  have  looked  upon  it  as  in  any  way  an  offi- 
cial, but  rather  as  a  symbolic  act. 

The  first  verse  of  the  thirteenth  chapter  contains 
an  interesting  notice  to  the  effect  that  in  the  church 
at  Antioch  there  were  prophets  and  teachers,  and 
these  in  connection  with  the  congregation  are  rep- 
resented as  sending  out  the  missionaries.  It  is  to 
be  noted  that  there  is  nothing  said  of  deacons  and 
presbyters,  or  bishops. 

Barnabas  and  Paul  were  ready  to  set  out  on 
their  first  long  journey.  They  took  with  them 
John  Mark  as  their  "  attendant."  It  will  be  re- 
membered that  he  was  a  resident  of  Jerusalem,  and 
that  it  was  to  his  mother's  house  that  Peter  went 
after  escaping  from  prison.  He  was  a  cousin  or 
nephew  of  Barnabas  ;  which,  it  is  not  clear,  for 
the  Greek  word  is  indefinite.  From  the  fact  that 
he  is  called  their  attendant,  many  have  written 
about  him  as  if  he  were  their  servant,  and  so  they 
give  us  an  absurd  picture  of  Barnabas  and  Paul 
traveling  about  with  a  courier  to  do  for  them  all 
the  services  that  are  required  of  such  a  body  ser- 
vant. But  the  Greek  word  can  with  equal  propri- 
ety be  translated  "  helper,"  and  it  is  more  than 
once  used  of  Paul  himself  (see  Acts  xxvi.  16  and 
1  Cor.  iv.  1).  It  would  bring  them  both  into  the 
most  ridiculous  light  if  they  quarreled  so  about 
the  choice  of  a  courier.  It  was  because  he  "  went 
not  with  them  to  the  work  "  that  Paul  afterwards 


120     HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

refused  to  take  him  again,  and  that  expression 
shows  clearly  that  he  was  their  fellow-missionary, 
and  sustained  the  same  relations  to  and  "  attended  " 
them  in  the  same  way  that  Silas  and  Timothy  af- 
terwards did. 

Barnabas  was  himself  a  native  of  Cyprus  (Acts 
iv.  36,  37),  and  that  explains  why  they  chose  that 
as  their  first  field  of  endeavor.  But  only  one 
event  of  all  their  stay  in  the  island  is  described. 
It  was  after  they  had  passed  through  the  whole 
length  of  the  island  and  reached  Paphos,  the  resi- 
dence of  the  proconsul.  Here  they  came  into  con- 
tact with  one  of  the  numerous  religious  quacks 
that  infested  that  age. 

Cyprus  was  at  this  time  a  senatorial  province, 
and  consequently  was  governed  by  a  proconsul. 
The  governors  of  the  imperial  provinces  were 
called  propraetors.  The  governor  who  was  then  in 
the  island  bore  the  name  of  Sergius  Paulus,  and  our 
author  makes  of  him  the  complimentary  remark 
that  he  was  "a  man  of  understanding."  The  com- 
pliment was  a  just  one,  for  he  was  himself  an 
author  and  the  friend  of  literary  men.  Pliny  in  his 
work  on  Natural  History,  Books  II.  and  XVIII., 
gives  the  names  of  several  authors,  and  among 
them  is  the  name  of  this  Sergius  Paulus.  Pliny 
says  that  he  had  written  a  work  about  the  island 
of  Cyprus.1  It  is  said  that  he  "  believed,"  but 
we  have  no  means  of  knowing  what  his  after  life 

1  See  Cesnola,  Cyprus,  p.  425,  where  there  is  a  copy  of  an 
inscription  which  was  made  by  him  and  in  which  his  name  occurs. 


BREAKING  THE  JEWISH  BONDS.         121 

was,  or  how  fully  he  identified  himself  with  Chris- 
tians. It  must  be  remembered  that  it  was  a  time 
when  the  worship  of  one  God  did  not  exclude  that 
of  another. 

They  sailed  from  Paphos  to  the  coast  of  Asia 
Minor,  and  after  landing  came  to  Perga  in  Pam- 
phylia,  the  first  province  west  of  Cilicia.  It  was 
here  that  Mark  deserted  them,  returning  to  his 
mother  in  Jerusalem.  No  direct  reason  for  his 
conduct  is  assigned,  but  it  is  probable  that  his  Jew- 
ish conscience  was  troubling  him,  and  he  was  un- 
willing to  associate  with  the  Gentiles.  It  must 
be  remembered  that  until  recently  he  had  been 
in  Jerusalem.  This  would  certainly  explain  why 
Paul  was  so  unwilling  to  take  him  with  them  on 
a  later  occasion.  But  Mark  afterward  redeemed 
himself  in  the  eyes  of  Paul,  for  we  find  him  again 
in  his  company,  and  Paul  speaks  of  him  with  praise. 
Curiously  enough,  Mark  is  the  only  one,  so  far  as 
we  know,  who  was  connected  with  both  Peter  and 
Paul.  So  far  as  our  information  in  the  New  Tes- 
tament is  concerned,  he  is  much  more  with  Paul 
than  with  Peter ;  but  in  the  later  tradition  his  asso- 
ciation with  Paul  is  entirely  forgotten,  and  he  is 
called  the  interpreter  of  Peter,  the  substance  of 
whose  preaching  he  is  said  to  have  preserved  for 
us  in  his  gospel. 

The  account  of  their  journey  is  so  sketchy  that 
it  scarcely  gives  us  any  idea  of  their  work.  Every- 
where, as  was  Paul's  custom,  they  went  to  the  syna- 
gogues and  began  their  work  there,  and  every- 


122     HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

where  they  met  with  much  the  same  success. 
Some  of  the  Jews  believed,  but  the  majority  op- 
posed them  with  great  bitterness  and  violence. 
These  accused  them  before  the  magistrates,  stirred 
up  the  leading  citizens,  and,  as  the  surest  way  of 
attaining  their  object,  raised  a  mob  either  to  drive 
them  out  or  kill  them.  As  the  author  uses  only 
general  and  indefinite  expressions  of  time,  it  is  im- 
possible to  tell  how  long  they  remained  in  the 
various  places  mentioned. 

The  first  Sabbath  in  Antioch  they  went  into  the 
synagogue.  After  the  reading  of  the  scriptures 
which  formed  a  regular  part  of  the  service  in  the 
synagogue,  as  they  were  strangers  they  were  asked 
to  speak,  if  they  had  any  word  of  exhortation  for 
the  people.  It  was  a  strange  message  that  they 
brought,  and  it  is  not  surprising  that  they  were  so 
eagerly  listened  to  by  the  multitudes.  But  their 
work  was  not  confined  wholly  to  the  cities,  for  the 
"  word  of  the  Lord  was  spread  throughout  all  the 
region."  But  Jewish  opposition  drove  them  on, 
and  they  came  to  Iconium,1  where  the  same  scenes 
were  repeated.  However,  their  success  here  was 
more  unequivocal,  for  "  a  great  multitude  both  of 
Jews  and  of  Greeks  believed." 

Again  stress  of  circumstances  compelled  them  to 
move  on  and  they  came  to  Lystra.  Then  follows 

1  The  scene  of  Paul  and  Thecla,  which  has  already  been 
mentioned,  is  laid  in  Iconium.  It  is  probably  based  on  fact,  and 
perhaps  contains  some  historical  reminiscences,  though  much  of  it 
is  legendary  in  character. 


BREAKING   THE  JEWISH  BONDS.          123 

a  narrative  that  is  especially  interesting,  for  it  shows 
how  widely  the  Greek  religion  and  influence  were 
spread.  These  were  Barbarians,  not  Greeks,  and 
lived  in  a  backwoods  province.  But  they  had  the 
Greek  religion.  They  had  a  temple  of  Zeus,  and 
their  gods  all  have  Greek  names.  The  national 
gods  had  been  crowded  out,  and  they  did  not  think 
of  them,  but  spoke  of  the  Greek  gods.  It  shows, 
too,  the  difference  between  that  age  and  this.  Their 
naive,  primitive  way  of  thinking  about  things  has 
entirely  disappeared.  It  was  reported  that  a  lame 
man  had  been  healed,  and  they  at  once  said,  "  The 
gods  have  come  down  to  us  in  the  likeness  of  men." 
It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  in  this  age  this 
is  not  the  conclusion  that  would  be  drawn  from 
such  an  occurrence.  In  fact  the  whole  account  of 
this  journey  shows  a  primitive  population ;  they 
believed  more  easily  than  others. 

The  Jews  of  these  cities  were  thoroughly  enraged, 
and  Paul  as  the  principal  preacher  was  of  course 
the  principal  offender.  In  their  eyes  he  was  guilty 
of  apostasy  and  sacrilege,  and  deserving  of  death. 
He  was  seized  by  a  mob,  dragged  out  of  the  city, 
stoned,  and  left  for  dead.  This  is  confirmed  by 
Paul  himself  in  his  second  letter  to  the  Corinthi- 
ans :  "  Once  was  I  stoned  "  (xi.  25).  How  seriously 
he  was  injured  it  is  impossible  to  tell ;  we  know 
only  that  he  recovered  and  withdrew  to  Lystra. 
After  preaching  there  for  some  time,  they  returned 
apparently  by  the  same  route,  exhorting  and 
strengthening  the  disciples  they  had  made.  From 


124     HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

the  port  of  Attalia  they  sailed  back  to  Antioch, 
and  there  "  rehearsed  all  things  that  God  had  done 
with  them,  and  how  that  He  had  opened  a  door  of 
faith  unto  the  Gentiles." 

These  two  chapters  show  that  the  Jewish  bonds 
were  completely  broken.  That  was  now  an  accom- 
plished fact,  for  the  heathen  had  been  admitted  in 
great  numbers.  Missionary  work  had  been  car- 
ried on  among  them  on  a  large  scale.  The  ques- 
tion now  beginning  to  press  was,  How  will  the 
Jewish  Christians  and  especially  the  church  at 
Jerusalem  regard  these  Gentile  Christians  ?  Will 
they  receive  them  as  brethren  and  equals?  How 
will  they  treat  each  other  ?  On  what  plane  will 
they  meet  ?  Or  will  they  refuse  to  unite  and  each 
go  its  own  way  ?  Must  there  be  two  gospels  ? 
Or  were  there  already  two  gospels,  one  of  the  Jew- 
ish Christians  and  one  of  the  Gentiles?  It  all 
depended  on  this  one  question :  "  Is  the  law  still 
binding  on  those  who  believe  in  Christ  ?  " 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE   BURNING   QUESTION. 

IT  is  necessary  in  this  connection  again  to  call 
attention  to  the  fact  that  the  Jewish  Christians,  es- 
pecially the  members  of  the  Mother  Church  at  Jeru- 
salem, were  still  observing  the  law.  They  had  not 
broken  with  Judaism,  and  it  had  not  entered  their 
thoughts  that  their  Christianity  could  exist  apart 
from  the  observance  of  the  Jewish  law.  They  were 
zealous  for  the  law  and  regarded  it  as  essential  to 
Christianity.  Stephen  had  got  a  better  insight 
into  the  new  dispensation,  but  the  promulgation  of 
his  views  had  cost  him  his  life.  Only  Peter  had 
preached  to  the  heathen,  and  he  but  once.  The 
group  that  had  gathered  in  the  house  of  Cornelius 
to  hear  him  was  the  only  heathen  audience  that  he 
had  faced,  and  his  success  there  had  been  a  sur- 
prise to  him.  But  the  Christians  at  Jerusalem  had 
rebuked  him  for  associating  with  the  uncircum- 
cised.  That  this  was  the  attitude  of  the  church  at 
Jerusalem  there  can  be  no  doubt.  It  is  evident 
that  here  was  a  difference  between  them  and  Paul, 
and  all  who,  like  him,  preached  to  the  heathen 
without  requiring  them  to  keep  the  law. 

That  we  may  see  just  what  this  difference  was 


126    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

let  us  sum  up  in  a  few  sentences  the  principal 
truths  which  formed  the  substance  of  what  was 
preached  by  them  all.  What  was  the  common 
faith?  What  were  the  principal  truths  of  their 
message  ? 1 

They  have  already  been  given,  but  it  will  be 
well  to  repeat  them  briefly.  They  all  began  with 
the  declaration  that  Jesus  is  the  Messiah,  and  en- 
deavored to  prove  this  from  the  writings  of  the  Old 
Testament.  It  was  all  interpreted  in  such  a  way 
as  to  make  it  refer  to  him  with  little  or  no  regard 
to  its  original  meaning.  They  all  agreed  in  re- 
counting the  principal  events  of  his  life.  Espe- 
cially, however,  is  this  true  of  his  death  and  resur- 
rection. He  had  begun  a  kingdom  which  was  now 
in  process  of  building,  and  he  would  soon  return 
to  establish  it  perfectly.  That  this  formed  a  part 
of  the  common  belief  ought  to  be  beyond  all 
question.  Paul  speaks  of  it  frequently,  and  it  oc- 
curs in  almost  every  writing  of  the  New  Testament. 
It  is  not  meant  that  they  all  thought  of  this  king- 
dom in  the  same  way,  or  that  they  agreed  as  to  its 
form,  or  even  that  they  had  a  fixed  idea  about  it. 
For  they  spoke  of  it  in  such  figurative  apocalyptic 
language  that  it  is  impossible  to  get  a  clear  idea  in 
all  respects  of  just  what  they  expected.  But  the 
fact  remains  the  same  that  they  all  expected  that 
Christ  would  come  again,  although  they  were  per- 
haps not  agreed  as  to  what  would  happen  in  con- 
nection with  his  coming. 

1  For   this,   see  the   epoch-making   work  of   Prof.   Harnack, 
Dogmengeschichte,  i.  30-270. 


THE  BURNING  QUESTION.  127 

They  all  agreed,  too,  in  declaring-  that  sins  were 
forgiven  and  grace  and  favor  with  God  were  to  be 
had  through  him.  Christ  himself,  in  the  myste- 
rious words,  "  This  is  my  body  which  is  given  for 
you,"  undoubtedly  connected  the  forgiveness  of 
sins  with  his  own  death,  and  this  certainly  formed 
a  prominent  part  of  the  preaching  of  the  early 
disciples.  And  they  all  proclaimed  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  was  the  common  possession  of  all  who  be- 
lieved in  Christ.  He  was  not  given  to  a  few  in 
such  measure  that  they  were  the  controlling  ele- 
ment, but  in  the  matter  of  authority  they  were  all 
on  the  same  plane,  for  all  possessed  the  Holy 
Spirit. 

There  was  complete  agreement  on  all  these 
principal  points  among  the  Christians  of  all  parties. 
Where  was  the  difference,  then  ?  It  lay  in  the 
answers  given  to  the  question,  What  is  necessary  to 
secure  salvation  ?  or,  as  it  was  formulated  by  them, 
On  what  condition  can  one  have  a  share  in  the 
Messiah's  kingdom  ? 

The  common  view  among  the  Jews  was  that  a 
man's  salvation  depended  on  whether  he  kept  the 
law  or  not.  The  faithful  son  of  Abraham  was  the 
one  who  obeyed  and  observed  all  those  commands, 
and  he  alone  might  claim  all  that  God  had  in 
store  for  his  people,  and  he  alone  was  assured  that 
in  the  Messiah's  kingdom  there  was  a  place  of 
honor  reserved  for  him. 

But  now  a  new  condition  had  been  added,  for 
they  all  declared,  "  Believe  in  the  Lord  Jesus 


128     HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

Christ  and  thou  shalt  be  saved."  Faith  in  him, 
that  is,  the  confidence  that  he  was  the  Messiah  and 
officially  represented  God,  and  that  he  would  gra- 
ciously receive  as  members  of  his  kingdom  all  who 
would  repent  and  call  upon  him,  was  all  that  was 
required  as  the  new  condition  of  salvation.  It  was 
the  relation  between  these  two  conditions  that  now 
had  to  be  determined.  Were  they  to  be  coordi- 
nated? Were  both  to  be  equally  binding?  Or 
was  one  of  them  to  be  regarded  as  more  important 
than  the  other?  Which  then  should  have  the 
precedence  ?  Or  was  the  new  entirely  to  displace 
the  old  ? 

There  were  at  least  three,  possibly  four,  answers 
given  to  this  question  almost  from  the  first.  The 
one  was  that  of  the  so-called  Judaizing  Christians. 
We  know  from  Acts  xv.  and  Galatians,  as  well 
as  from  other  scattered  notices  in  other  letters  of 
Paul,  that  these  declared  that  without  the  observ- 
ance of  the  law  there  was  no  salvation.  They 
insisted  that  all  heathen  who  believe  in  Christ 
should  be  circumcised,  celebrate  all  the  feasts,  and 
keep  the  Mosaic  law  as  it  had  been  required  of  the 
Jews.  According  to  them  this  was  absolutely 
necessary  for  salvation.  Judaism  is  the  only  door 
into  Christianity,  which  is  the  perfected,  completed 
Judaism.  In  favor  of  this  view  they  could  urge 
that  the  Messiah  himself  had  lived  as  a  Jew  in 
subjection  to  the  law.  What  higher  proof  of  its 
holiness  could  be  demanded  ?  There  were  many 
of  these  who  were  filled  with  zeal  for  the  introduc- 


THE  BURNING  QUESTION.  129 

tion  of  the  law  among  the  heathen,  and  labored 
with  never-failing  energy  in  the  accomplishment  of 
this.  They  declared  that  all  who  did  not  observe 
the  law  were  still  in  their  sins,  no  matter  how  great 
their  faith  in  the  Messiah. 

The  second  answer  to  the  question  was  that  the 
Jewish  Christians  must  keep  the  law.  It  was 
looked  upon  as  a  part  of  the  national  religious  in- 
heritance of  the  Jews,  to  disregard  which  was  an 
act  of  treason  to  the  nation.  The  peculiar  pre- 
rogative and  higher  rank  of  the  Jews  in  the  Mes- 
siah's kingdom  were  assured  just  because  of  their 
observance  of  this  law.  The  heathen  were  to  be 
admitted  to  this  kingdom,  but  they  were  to  be  in- 
ferior to  the  Jews.  The  nobility  of  this  new  king- 
dom was  to  be  composed  of  those  that  had  kept  the 
law.  The  passage  Acts  xxi.  20  is  decisive  on  this 
point.  It  is  worth  quoting  again.  "  Thou  seest, 
brother,  how  many  thousands  there  are  among 
the  Jews  of  them  which  have  believed ;  and  they 
are  all  zealous  for  the  law :  and  they  have  been 
informed  concerning  thee,  that  thou  teachest  all 
the  Jews  which  are  among  the  Gentiles  to  for- 
sake Moses,  telling  them  not  to  circumcise  their 
children,  neither  to  walk  after  the  customs."  Look 
at  this  carefully  and  see  just  what  the  charge 
against  Paul  is.  What  was  it  that  made  James 
fear  that  the  Jewish  Christians  in  Jerusalem  would 
do  violence  to  Paul  ?  Was  it  that  he  was  preach- 
ing the  gospel  to  the  Gentiles  without  requiring 
them  to  keep  the  law  ?  That  is  not  what  the  pas- 


130    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

sage  says.  It  was  because  he  was  teaching  the 
"  Jews  which  are  among  the  Gentiles  to  forsake 
Moses,  telling  them  not  to  circumcise  their  children, 
neither  to  walk  after  the  customs."  That  is,  for 
the  Jew  the  law  was  still  holy  and  binding,  and 
simple  faith  in  Jesus  as  the  Messiah  was  not 
sufficient.  This  was  undoubtedly  the  opinion  of 
a  large  majority  of  the  Jewish  Christians.  But 
what  was  their  attitude  to  the  Gentiles  who  be- 
lieved in  Jesus  ?  They  admit  that  such  could  have 
part  in  the  Messiah's  kingdom,  but  they  were  on 
a  lower  plane.  They  recognized  them  as  Christians, 
but  if  they  did  not  keep  the  law  they  could  not  as- 
sociate with  them.  The  old  levitical  distinctions 
of  clean  and  unclean  were  still  in  force.  These 
views  were  in  themselves  conti*adictory,  but  the 
contradiction  was  not  felt  by  the  Jews.  At  Antioch 
(Gal.  ii.),  for  example,  those  from  James  and  Peter 
and  Barnabas  and  the  others  did  not  deny  that  the 
heathen  members  were  Christians,  but  only  claimed 
that  they  themselves,  by  their  observance  of  the 
law,  were  placed  on  a  higher  plane  of  holiness, 
which  excluded  their  free  association  and  inter- 
course. 

The  third  answer  was  that  of  Paul,  which  needs 
hardly  be  stated,  for  through  the  work  of  the  Re- 
formers of  the  sixteenth  century  it  has  come  to  be 
the  watchword  of  Protestantism.  Faith  in  Christ 
is  the  only  condition  of  salvation.  The  law  is  done 
away  with,  it  has  its  end  in  Christ.  This  formed 
an  integral  part  of  his  Gospel,  and  he  has  defended 


THE  BURNING  QUESTION.  131 

it  with  great  skill  and  power  in  his  two  letters  to 
the  Galatians  and  Romans. 

But  what  was  Paul's  attitude  to  the  law  ?  He 
had  once  thought  that  its  observance  was  the  only 
way  of  salvation,  now  he  sees  that  it  never  was  the 
way  of  salvation.  Its  purpose  was  not  to  save. 
Nevertheless  for  Paul  the  law  was  divine,  it  was 
God's  word.  But  the  promise  was  older  than  the 
law,  for  long  before  it  was  given  to  Moses  God 
had  made  the  promise  to  Abraham,  and  the  great 
blessing  was  connected  with  the  promise  and  not 
with  the  keeping  of  the  law.  For  Abraham  had 
not  kept  the  law,  but  simply  believed  God.  In 
this  Paul  sees  the  original  purpose  of  God,  which 
was  to  give  the  blessing  to  those  who  believe. 
Promise  is  primary  and  fundamental  in  God's 
dealings  with  and  relations  to  man.  The  law 
came  in  between  the  promise  and  its  fulfillment, 
but  it  could  not  in  any  way  invalidate  the  promise, 
for  God  had  not  only  promised,  He  had  solemnly 
given  an  oath  that  the  promise  should  be  fulfilled. 
The  law,  then,  coming  in  between  the  promise  and 
its  fulfillment,  could  be  binding  only  until  the 
promise  should  be  fulfilled,  and  this  was  done  in 
the  coming  of  the  Messiah.  The  law  is  medial 
and  temporary.  It  formed  a  part  of  God's  plan 
and  had  a  special  purpose.  This  purpose  is  ex- 
pressed by  Paul  in  various  ways,  the  most  general 
of  which  is  that  it  was  to  teach  that  sin  is  sinful, 
or  to  show  what  sin  is. 

It  does  this  in  several  ways.     In  the  first  place, 


132    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

it  reveals  the  character  of  God  and  shows  that  He 
hates  sin.  And  it  shows  what  is  sinful  by  forbid- 
ding it.  The  "  Thou  shalt  not "  of  itself  shows  that 
it  is  sinful  and  that  God  can  have  no  pleasure  in 
it.  From  the  character  of  the  things  that  are  for- 
bidden and  commanded  in  the  law,  one  should  be 
able  to  form  a  proper  idea  of  the  character  of  God 
and  of  the  nature  of  sin.  But  the  law  had  still 
another  purpose.  It  said,  "  Do  this,"  but  in  spite 
of  the  command  there  was  no  one  that  was  able 
to  say  that  he  had  obeyed.  It  said,  "  Do  not 
do  this,"  but  who  was  there  that  had  refrained? 
When  brought  face  to  face  with  the  law  there  was 
no  one  who  was  clear,  but  all  were  convicted  of  sin. 
It  was  impossible  not  to  feel  the  burden  of  sin 
resting  on  the  soul,  for  all  had  been  disobedient. 
All  felt  that  there  was  need  of  mercy,  but  who 
could  be  sure  that  God  would  be  merciful  ?  The 
law,  then,  was  to  lead  men  to  Christ,  by  awakening 
in  them  the  consciousness  of  sin,  the  desire  to  know 
that  God  is  merciful,  and  so  put  them  into  such 
a  state  that  they  would  gladly  receive  the  gos- 
pel of  Jesus,  which  was  that  God  is  the  Father  of 
all,  and  like  a  father  pitieth  his  children,  is  long- 
suffering,  gracious,  merciful,  and  freely  forgives 
nil  who  repent  and  call  upon  Him.  That  was  the 
good  news  which  Christ  proclaimed  to  the  world, 
but,  that  it  might  be  accepted,  it  was  necessary 
that  there  should  be  present  the  sense  of  sin  and 
estrangement  from  God. 

And  now  that  Christ  is  come  the  law  is  no  longer 


THE  BURNING  QUESTION.  133 

binding ;  it  is  done  away,  it  has  its  end  in  Christ. 
But  what  does  that  mean  ?  How  is  it  that  Christ 
is  the  end  of  the  law  ?  How  could  he  "  fulfill " 
the  law  ?  To  this  question  we  have  not  only  Paul's 
answer,  we  have  also  that  of  Christ,  and  they  en- 
tirely agree. 

In  the  minds  of  those  who  heard  Christ  there 
had  arisen  the  question,  what  is  the  attitude  of 
this  man  to  the  law?  It  seemed  to  them  that  he 
was  going  to  break  entirely  away  from  the  law 
and  the  prophets  and  begin  on  a  new  foundation. 
They  thought  that  he  was  beginning  a  new  religion 
on  new  and  different  principles,  disregarding  com- 
pletely all  the  religious  truth  that  they  already 
possessed.  It  was  in  answer  to  these,  their 
thoughts,  that  Jesus  used  the  words,  "  Think  not 
that  I  came  to  destroy  the  law  or  the  prophets  :  I 
came  not  to  destroy  but  to  fulfill"  (Matt.  v.  17). 
The  word  "  fulfill  "  is  a  misleading  translation,  for 
it  seems  to  say  that  Christ  came  to  keep  the  law, 
to  observe  it,  to  obey  its  commands.  And  so  it  is 
often  interpreted  as  if  it  meant  that  in  this  way 
Christ  had  f ulfilled  the  law  for  us  :  because  he  was 
circumcised,  he  was  circumcised  for  us ;  because 
he  kept  the  feasts  and  fasts  and  observed  all  the 
levitical  distinctions,  he  did  it  for  us,  and  we  are 
therefore  free  from  all  this.  In  that  he  kept  God's 
law  perfectly  he  kept  it  for  us,  and  his  observance 
of  it  is  imputed  to  us.  But  "  fulfill "  here  has  an 
entirely  different  meaning.  It  means  to  fill  up,  to 
fill  out,  to  complete,  to  accomplish  perfectly  what  it 


134     HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

could  only  imperfectly  do.  That  is,  Christ  says 
that  he  came  to  carry  on  the  work  of  the  law  until 
its  purpose  should  be  entirely  accomplished.  And 
so  Christ  proceeds,  and  a  large  part  of  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount  is  simply  the  filling  out,  the  com- 
pleting, of  the  teaching  of  the  law.  He  begins 
with  the  warning,  "  Unless  your  righteousness  is 
better  than  that  of  the  scribes  and  Pharisees  ye 
shall  in  no  wise  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 
But  these  were  the  very  people  that  were  keeping 
the  law  so  carefully !  What  was  the  matter  then  ? 
They  put  their  righteousness  in  the  observance  of 
the  single  commands  of  the  law,  as  if  that  was  the 
important  thing.  The  condition  of  the  heart  was 
for  them  a  matter  of  indifference.  But  Christ  by 
a  few  practical  examples  shows  what  he  means  by 
"  fulfilling  "  the  law.  The  command  was,  "  Thou 
shalt  not  kill,"  and  the  Jew  thought  if  he  had  not 
actually  taken  the  life  of  any  one  he  had  kept  the 
law.  Christ  shows  how  superficial  is  such  a  con- 
ception of  the  sin  of  murder.  Not  only  the  act  of 
murder,  but  every  angry,  violent  word,  even  every 
unspoken,  angry  feeling  and  thought  of  the  heart, 
is  murder.  That  is  a  deepening  of  the  teaching 
of  the  law.  In  the  same  way  Christ  "fulfills" 
the  teaching  of  the  law  in  regard  to  adultery. 
This  consists  not  simply  in  the  performance  of 
the  act,  but  every  lustful  thought  is  adultery. 
And  so  in  regard  to  oaths,  almsgiving,  prayer, 
fasting,  and  other  things.  In  all  these  Christ  is 
showing  that  evil  and  good  are  of  the  heart,  not  of 


THE  BURNING  QUESTION.  135 

the  external  action.  In  this  he  was  filling  up  and 
perfecting  the  teaching  of  the  law  and  the  prophets. 
He  was  deepening  the  knowledge  of  sin  and  its 
character.  In  this  respect  he  takes  up  the  work 
of  the  law  and  completes  it.  He  shows  that  it  is 
not  the  single  commands  of  the  law  that  have  such 
importance,  but  the  whole  law  in  its  purpose  to 
make  known  the  character  of  God  and  the  nature 
of  sin. 

What  was  the  life  and  work  of  Christ  but  the 
revelation  of  God?  How  patiently  and  persist- 
ently he  strove  to  teach  his  disciples  the  true  char- 
acter of  God.  He  was  the  revealer  and  image  of 
the  Father,  in  that  in  his  love  for  sinners,  in  his 
willingness  to  forgive  them,  in  his  desire  to  save 
them,  he  was  but  showing  them  that  that  was 
the  way  in  which  God  looked  upon  them ;  that 
that  was  God's  attitude  toward  them.  And  this 
is  the  principal  truth  in  the  Christian  religion, 
that  in  Christ  we  have  the  sure  knowledge  of  the 
character  of  God  and  the  assurance  that  He  is 
gracious  and  that  Christ's  attitude  to  sinners  is  the 
same  as  that  of  God  himself. 

And  now  as  Christ  takes  up  this  work,  complet- 
ing and  perfecting  it,  and  accomplishing  it  so  much 
better  than  the  law  itself  possibly  could,  the  law  is 
no  longer  necessary ;  it  has  served  its  purpose,  and 
hence  is  laid  aside.  On  the  principle  that  the 
higher  always  supersedes  the  lower,  Christ  super- 
sedes it,  and  hence  he  is  the  end  of  the  law. 

The  original   promise   now  has   its  full   force. 


136    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

Abraham  was  blessed  simply  by  believing  God,  by 
faith,  so  now  the  blessing  which  Christ  brought, 
and  all  his  benefits,  all  that  he  has  to  give,  are  to 
be  got  in  the  same  way,  by  believing  him. 

But  this  would  apply  to  the  Jews  who  had  the 
law;  what  about  the  heathen  who  were  not  the 
descendants  of  Abraham  and  who  were  without 
the  law?  They  did  not  have  the  law,  but  they 
had  something  parallel  to  it,  namely,  the  con- 
science ;  and  this  served  the  same  purpose  among 
the  heathen  as  the  law  among  the  Jews.  It  was 
not  so  efficient,  but  even  the  heathen  through  the 
action  of  their  conscience  knew  that  there  is  a  holy 
God,  that  they  had  sinned  against  Him  and  needed 
forgiveness.  The  conscience  told  them  that  they 
needed  salvation,  but  it  could  not  save  them. 
Neither  the  law  nor  the  conscience  ever  saved 
any  one,  that  was  not  their  purpose.  Salvation  is 
the  free  gift  of  God  to  those  that  believe  Him. 

It  should  be  noted  that  in  the  first  chapters  of 
the  letter  to  the  Romans  Paul  is  not  discussing  the 
question  whether  any  of  the  heathen  are  saved  or 
not,  any  more  than  whether  any  of  the  Jews  are 
saved.  But  he  is  showing  that  God  had  not  left 
himself  without  witness,  having  given  the  Jews 
the  law  and  the  heathen  conscience.  By  this,  all 
the  world  was  made  conscious  of  sin.  If  any  of 
the  Jews  were  saved,  they  had  been  saved  as  Abra- 
ham was,  through  faith  in  God.  In  like  manner, 
if  any  of  the  heathen  were  saved  (and  Paul  cer- 
tainly admits  the  possibility  of  this,  see  Romans 


THE  BURNING  QUESTION.  137 

ii.  6-16  and  26-29),  they  were  saved,  not  by  their 
conscience,  not  through  their  knowledge  of  any 
particular  dogma,  but  because  in  their  hearts  they 
felt  the  burden  of  sin,  and  were  truly  penitent,  and 
believed  that  God  would  be  gracious  to  them.  It 
all  depended  on  the  attitude  of  their  hearts  toward 
God,  and  not  on  their  exact  knowledge  nor  on 
their  living  up  to  the  light  which  they  had.  It 
cannot  be  too  often  said  that  religion  does  not 
consist  in  knowledge  about  God,  nor  in  a  creed 
that  can  be  repeated,  nor  in  the  punctual  observ- 
ance of  any  law  or  laws,  but  it  is  of  the  heart. 
"  A  broken  and  a  contrite  heart,  O  God,  thou  wilt 
not  despise."  That  of  course  put  Jew  and  Gentile 
on  the  same  plane.  There  is  no  longer  any  differ- 
ence between  them,  for  both  may  believe  God. 

But  strangely  enough  none  of  these  three  an- 
swers was  the  one  that  finally  prevailed  in  the 
church  during  the  first  centuries.  The  Judaizers 
failed  in  their  attempt  to  make  the  law  binding  on 
all.  They  caused  great  trouble  in  the  church  for 
several  years,  but  it  was  impossible  for  them 
to  succeed.  The  Jewish  Christians  gave  up  the 
law,  apparently  very  soon  after  the  destruction 
of  the  temple  (70  A.  D.),  and  probably  under  the 
impression  which  this  event  made  on  them,  that 
God  had  thereby  deserted  the  people  that  had  been 
unfaithful  to  Him.  But  even  Paul's  answer  was 
not  the  one  that  was  generally  understood  and 
accepted  in  the  church,  but  in  its  stead  another, 
which  was  much  easier  to  understand.  It  was  as 


HISTOEY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

follows :  the  law  is  still  binding,  but  it  was  never 
intended  to  be  understood  literally.  Even  from 
the  first  God  had  not  intended  that  the  commands 
should  be  interpreted  according  to  the  law,  but 
their  true  meaning  was  to  be  found  by  allegorizing 
them.  For  instance,  God  had  forbidden  the  Jews 
to  eat  the  flesh  of  birds  of  prey.  But  what  did 
this  mean?  Simply  that  they  were  not  to  live 
as  birds  of  prey,  that  get  their  living  by  robbery, 
theft,  and  violence.  The  command  not  to  eat  flesh 
of  swine  meant  that  they  should  not  be  like  swine, 
filthy  in  character,  and  associate  with  such.  The 
command  not  to  eat  the  flesh  of  the  hare  meant 
that  they  were  not  to  be  adulterous,  for  the  hare 
was  the  symbol  of  adultery.  In  this  way  the  whole 
Old  Testament  could  still  be  held  and  made  bind- 
ing, but  a  "  deeper  sense  "  was  obtained  from  it. 
Thousands  of  Jews  in  the  first  centuries  became 
Christians  and  justified  their  non-observance  of 
the  law  in  this  way.  The  Christians  really  got  rid 
of  the  law  in  this  way,  and  not  as  Paul  did. 

Paul's  explanation  did  not  become  popular  and 
prevail  for  several  reasons :  1.  The  allegorical 
method  was  in  vogue.  Everything  was  treated  in 
this  way,  and  it  must  be  said  that  it  is  a  very 
simple  way  of  cutting  the  Gordian  knot.  The 
uneducated  could  easily  understand  it,  while  Paul's 
reasoning  was  fine  and  difficult  to  comprehend; 
2.  Besides,  Paul  himself  did  not  consistently  fol- 
low out  his  position  to  its  logical  consequences. 
He  declared  plainly  that  the  law  and  the  prophets 


THE  BURNING  QUESTION.  139 

belonged  to  the  past,  the  old  dispensation  was 
succeeded  by  the  new ;  Christ  had  put  everything 
on  a  new  basis,  because  he  had  brought  a  higher, 
more  complete  revelation.  It  followed  from  this 
that  the  Old  Testament  should  be  subordinated  to 
this  revelation  which  Christ  brought.  It  really 
could  no  longer  be  an  absolute  authority  for  the 
Christian,  for,  for  him,  Christ  alone  could  be  that. 
Paul  used  the  word  law  in  several  senses.  Some- 
times it  was  the  Mosaic  law,  sometimes  the  levitical 
law,  sometimes  the  combined  teachings  of  the  whole 
Old  Testament,  sometimes  the  moral  law  was  in- 
cluded, sometimes  excluded.  Sometimes  he  de- 
clared the  whole  law,  the  whole  old  dispensation, 
was  done  away  ;  not  even  the  law  about  the  Sab- 
bath was  binding  (Col.  ii.  16),  but  all  things  were 
become  new  in  Christ,  and  subject  only  to  his  will. 
And  yet  he  quoted  the  Old  Testament  to  prove 
the  Messiahship  of  Christ  and  made  a  pedagogical 
use  of  it  which  showed  that  it  still  had  a  certain 
authority  in  his  eyes. 

3.  And  then  Paul  himself  prepared  the  way 
for  the  entrance  of  this  allegorizing  method.  In 
fact,  he  used  the  allegorical  method  himself,  in 
certain  passages,  to  get  rid  of  the  letter  of  the 
law.  It  is  necessary  to  refer  only  to  the  letter  to 
the  Romans  (ii.  28-30)  :  "  For  he  is  not  a  Jew 
which  is  one  outwardly ;  neither  is  that  circum- 
cision which  is  outward,  in  the  flesh :  but  he  is 
a  Jew  which  is  one  inwardly,  and  circumcision 
is  that  of  the  heart,  in  the  spirit,  not  in  the  letter." 


140    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

In  other  words,  Paul  really  solved  this  problem  in 
two  ways :  by  his  fine  method  of  reasoning  as 
shown  above,  which  was  so  difficult  to  understand, 
and  if  followed  out  would  do  away  with  the  whole 
Old  Testament,  and  by  the  allegorical  method, 
which  was  familiar  to  all  and  easily  comprehended.1 

4.  The  Old  Testament,  in  spite  of  Paul's  state- 
ment that  it  was  superseded  by  the  revelation  of 
Christ,  lived  on  in  the  church  principally  because, 
in  the  first  place,  it  was  regarded  as  a  revelation 
from  God,  and  in  the  second  place,  it  was  the 
arsenal,  the  source  of  weapons  against  the  Jews. 
In  the  second  century  there  was  an  attempt  made 
to  rise  to  Paul's  position  in  regard  to  the  Old 
Testament,  but  coupled  with  it  such  a  false  esti- 
mate of  it  and  of  its  origin  that  it  could  not  suc- 
ceed. And  so  Paul's  fundamental  position  in  re- 
gard to  the  Old  Testament  has  never  yet  been 
properly  studied  and  recognized ;  but  theoretically 
every  part  of  the  Old  Testament  is  put  on  the 
same  plane  with  the  words  of  Jesus,  the  genealogies 
of  the  Chronicles  stand  side  by  side  with  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount.  But  this  can  be  justified 
only  by  the  allegorical  method  of  interpretation 
and  a  false  conception  of  Jewish  history. 

The  first  intimation  that  we  have  that  the 
trouble  about  the  observance  of  the  law  was  be- 

1  See  also  Phil.  iii.  3,  where  Paul  claims  that  those  who  he- 
lieve  in  Christ  are  the  true  circumcision.  It  was  a  common 
thought  among1  the  Christians  that  they  were  the  true  seed  of 
Abraham.  See  also  his  use  of  allegory  in  Gal.  iv.  21-31. 


THE  BURNING  QUESTION.  141 

coming  acute  is  in  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  Acts. 
This  must  have  been  about  the  year  49  A.  D. 
"And  certain  men  came  down  from  Judaea  and 
taught  the  brethren,  saying,  Except  ye  be  circum- 
cised after  the  custom  of  Moses,  ye  cannot  be 
saved"  (xv.  1).  These  were  the  " Judaizers."1 
They  were  Christians,  they  believed  in  the  Messiah- 
ship  of  Jesus,  but  they  held  to  the  law  at  the  same 
time,  and  insisted  that  it  must  be  observed  by  all 
who  would  become  members  of  his  kingdom.  This 
declaration  raised  a  great  commotion  among  the 
Gentile  Christians  in  Antioch.  Some  of  them  had 
for  years  been  watching  with  great  joy  and  con- 
fident expectation  for  the  return  of  Christ.  We 
can  easily  imagine  their  consternation  when  they 
were  told  that  they  would  certainly  be  excluded 
from  his  kingdom  if  they  did  not  also  keep  the 
law.  All  their  hopes  were  blasted.  But  Paul 
and  Barnabas  vigorously  defended  themselves  and 
their  teaching.  The  struggle  was  a  serious  one, 
and  it  must  have  shaken  the  church  to  its  very 
foundation,  for  there  was  "  no  small  dissension 
and  questioning  with  them  "  about  this  important 
matter. 

The  mission  among  the  heathen  had  been  suc- 
cessful beyond  all  question.  Paul  was  not  the  only 
one  that  had  been  communicating  the  gospel  to 
them.  They  now  formed  a  large  minority  in  the 
whole  church.  The  time  had  now  come  when  the 

1  That  is,  as  their  name  indicates,  they  wished  to  make  others 
live  as  the  Jews,  according  to  the  Jewish  law,  to  "  Judaize." 


142    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

Mother  Church  at  Jerusalem  must  recognize  this. 
So  Paul  and  Barnabas  went  to  Jerusalem  to  lay  the 
matter  before  them  and  compel  the  recognition  of 
their  work.  We  have  two  accounts  of  this  meet- 
ing in  Jerusalem,  the  one  in  Acts  xv.,  the  other 
in  Gal.  ii.,  so  by  comparing  and  uniting  these 
we  may  get  a  good  idea  of  what  took  place  at  that 
time. 

In  the  first  place  it  is  clear  that  Paul  and  Bar- 
nabas and  Titus  and  perhaps  others  went  up  to 
Jerusalem.  It  was  a  matter  of  some  practical 
importance  for  Paul  that  he  could  take  with  him 
one  of  his  disciples,  a  Gentile,  as  a  sample  of  his 
workmanship.  He  could  show  them  in  the  person 
of  Titus  what  Christianity  could  do  without  any 
help  of  the  law.  The  "  Acts  of  the  Apostles  "  gen- 
erally represents  Paul  as  working  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  church  at  Antioch,  while  Paul  in  all 
his  letters  declares  that  he  is  directly  under  the 
command  of  Christ.  It  is  characteristic  therefore 
of  the  Acts  that  it  says  that  the  church  at  Antioch 
appointed  these  to  go  to  Jerusalem,  while  Paul  in 
Galatians  says  that  they  went  up  by  revelation. 
The  two  accounts  are  not  necessarily  in  contradic- 
tion. The  manner  of  the  appointment  may  be  so 
understood  that  it  does  not  conflict  with  the  freedom 
and  independence  of  Paul's  action.  In  the  Acts 
we  have  an  account  only  of  the  public  meetings. 
Paul  and  Barnabas  met  with  the  whole  church,  in 
which  James  appears  as  the  leading  spirit,  while 
Peter  appears  in  a  subordinate  role.  The  matter 


THE  BURNING  QUESTION.  143 

was  discussed  apparently  in  the  presence  of  the 
whole  congregation,  while  in  the  letter  to  the 
Galatians  Paul  seems  to  say  that  the  whole  thing 
was  discussed  and  settled  privately  between  the 
pillar  Apostles  and  himself  and  Barnabas.  But 
if  we  look  carefully  at  the  latter  account  we  find 
that  the  public  meeting  is  at  least  implied,  if  not 
directly  mentioned.  Paul  says,  "  I  went  up  again 
to  Jerusalem  .  .  .  and  I  laid  before  them  (that  is, 
the  brethren  at  Jerusalem)  the  gospel  which  I 
preached  among  the  Gentiles,  and  especially  before 
them  who  were  of  repute "  (Gal.  ii.  1-2). 1  In 
the  clause  "and  I  laid  before  them  "  there  is  there- 
fore a  reference  to  the  public  meeting  which  is 
mentioned  in  Acts. 

Ther.e  were  two  parties  standing  strongly  op- 
posed to  each  other.  On  the  one  hand  the  Jiidaizers, 
the  "  certain  of  the  sect  of  the  Pharisees  who  be- 
lieved," demanding  that  the  heathen  be  circumcised 
and  the  whole  law  be  made  binding  on  them. 
These  were  Christians,  but  Paul  in  his  bitterness 
calls  them  "  false  brethren."  But  it  by  no  means 
follows  that  they  were  not  acting  with  the  best 
motives.  They  thought  that  Paul  was  wrong  and 
they  were  laboring  in  every  way  to  overcome  him. 
The  other  party  was  composed  of  Paul  and  his 

1  The  expression  KOT"  Itiiav  5«  can  with  equal  propriety  be 
translated  "  and  especially,"  as  well  as  "  but  privately  "  as  in  the 
Revised  Version.  In  fact  the  thought  of  the  passage  requires 
it  to  be  so  translated.  The  emphasis  is  put  on  the  fact  that  the 
apostles  in  Jerusalem  had  recognized  Paul  as  having  the  true 
gospel. 


144     HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

friends,  who  declared  that  the  law  was  not  neces- 
sary, that  faith  in  Christ  was  sufficient,  and  there- 
fore the  Gentiles  were  to  be  freed  from  its  bur- 
densome regulations.  There  is  something  peculiar 
about  the  speech  of  Peter.  It  is  impossible  not  to 
feel  that  there  is  a  kind  of  exultant  tone  in  it.  It 
sounds  very  much  like  the  "  I  told  you  so  "  of  a 
man  who  has  been  long  opposed  and  has  suddenly 
found  a  strong  reinforcement,  which,  it  seems,  is 
about  to  bring  every  one  to  recognize  that  he  has 
been  in  the  right.  "  You  know  very  well,"  he 
says,  "  that  long  ago,  God  showed  through  me  that 
the  Gentiles  were  to  have  a  share  in  the  gospel, 
and  that  God  gave  the  Holy  Spirit  to  them  as  to 
us ;  but  you  refused  to  recognize  that  fact,  you 
opposed  me  then  and  are  still  opposing  thp  truth, 
in  the  face  of  all  the  reports  which  we  have  heard 
from  Paul  of  the  work  of  grace  among  the  Gen- 
tiles. You  are  still  tempting  God,  refusing  to 
follow  his  plain  teaching."  It  is  evident  that 
Peter  had  been  somewhat  oppressed  by  his  Juda- 
istic  surroundings.  He  knew  that  the  law  was 
not  necessary ;  his  experience  with  Cornelius  had 
taught  him  that ;  but  because  of  the  opposition 
which  he  had  met  in  Jerusalem  he  had  held  him- 
self back,  and  in  order  not  to  break  with  them, 
and  for  the  sake  of  peace,  he  had  not  continued 
the  work  among  the  Gentiles.  It  is  a  relief  to 
him  now  to  give  utterance  to  these  sentiments ;  it 
is  as  if  a  burden  had  been  rolled  off  his  heart. 
Theoretically  he  stood  with  Paul  and  Barnabas, 


TIIE  BURNING  QUESTION.  145 

but  practically  with  the  others,  because  he  had  de- 
ferred to  their  opinions.  He  was  willing  to  give 
the  Gentile  Christians  the  fullest  recognition  and 
regard  them  as  brethren.  From  the  gospels  and 
from  the  later  occurrence  at  Antioch  (Gal.  ii.)  we 
know  that  this  was  wholly  in  accordance  with  his 
character. 

But  in  regard  to  James  the  case  is  somewhat 
different.  From  his  letter  and  from  the  whole 
tradition  that  he  left  behind  him,  James  must  have 
been  thoroughly  Jewish.  He  does  not  wish  to  op- 
pose God,  who  is  visiting  "  the  Gentiles  to  take 
out  of  them  a  people  for  his  name."  It  is  clear 
to  James  that  God  is  moving  upon  the  Gentiles. 
He  is  not  confining  himself  to  the  Jews  alone. 
But  the  outcome  of  this  is  not  yet  clear  to  him. 
He  does  not  see  how  the  Gentiles  are  to  be  brought 
into  connection  with  God's  special  people.  He 
takes  much  the  same  position  as  Gamaliel  did  in 
regard  to  the  young  and  rising  sect.  So  James 
was  of  the  opinion  that  they  should  not  trouble 
the  Gentiles  that  are  turning  to  God,  but  the 
whole  thing  should  be  allowed  to  take  its  course. 
God  would  conduct  it  to  the  proper  end.  He 
represents  a  middle  party,  then,  which  was  willing 
to  recognize  the  Gentiles  as  Christians,  but  for 
the  present  were  suspending  judgment  and  were 
watching  for  further  developments  before  the 
two  nationalities  could  be  completely  united.  For 
James,  as  we  shall  soon  see,  still  did  not  think  that 
the  Jewish  and  Gentile  Christians  could  associate 


146    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

on  equal  terms.  In  other  words,  they  were  recog- 
nized as  standing  in  a  true  relationship  to  the 
Messiah  ;  they  were  Christians ;  God  was  choosing 
them  as  his  people  from  among  the  Gentiles. 
But  the  relation  between  the  people  He  is  choosing, 
the  Gentile  Christians,  and  the  people  He  has  al- 
ready chosen,  the  Jewish  Christians,  is  not  yet 
clear.  For  the  present  they  must  remain  sharply 
divided. 

What  then  was  the  question  that  was  before 
them  for  discussion  ?  Unless  we  look  squarely  at 
this  and  get  it  fixed,  we  are  likely  to  make  many 
false  inferences.  The  question  was  a  simple  and 
single  one,  namely :  must  the  Gentiles  keep  the  law 
in  order  to  have  a  part  in  the  Messiah  and  his  king- 
dom ?  There  is  not  a  word  said  about  whether  the 
Jews  should  keep  it  or  not ;  that  was  taken  for 
granted ;  at  any  rate  it  was  not  discussed.  The 
whole  attention  of  the  meeting  was  taken  up  with 
the  Gentile  Christians  and  the  law.  "  But  there 
rose  up  certain  of  the  sect  of  the  Pharisees  who  be- 
lieved, saying,  it  is  needful  to  circumcise  them  and 
to  charge  them  to  keep  the  law  of  Moses."  These 
demanded  that  Titus  should  be  circumcised.  There 
was  a  sharp  struggle  about  this,  but  Paul  carried 
his  point.  Gentile  Christianity  was  on  trial  in 
the  person  of  Titus.  The  examination  was  satis- 
factory and  Titus  was  not  circumcised. 

We  come  now  to  the  decisions  reached.  To 
what  agreements  did  they  come?  What  was  the 
result  of  all  this  discussion  ? 


THE  BURNING  QUESTION.  147 

The  first  and  most  important  one  was  that  the 
law  is  not  binding  on  the  Gentile  Christians.  In 
this  Paul  was  completely  victorious.  It  was  this 
principle  for  the  recognition  of  which  he  was  labor- 
ing, and  it  was  here  fully  conceded.  James,  Peter, 
and  John  recognized  that  Paul  and  Barnabas  were 
true  preachers  of  the  true  gospel.  They  had  been 
intrusted  with  the  gospel  to  the  Gentiles,  and 
God  had  recognized  their  work  by  blessing  it  with 
success.  For  their  preaching  among  the  heathen 
had  been  attended  with  the  same  signs  and  results 
as  that  of  the  other  apostles  among  the  Jews. 

The  second  decision  was  to  the  effect  that  this 
gospel  of  Paul  was  for  the  heathen  alone  and  not 
for  the  Jews  (Gal.  ii.  9).  Paul  might  preach  to 
the  Gentiles  without  demanding  of  them  the  ob- 
servance of  the  law,  but  that  was  not  the  gospel 
for  the  Jews.  He  might  preach  to  the  Jews,  but 
he  must  not  teach  them  to  disregard  the  law  of 
Moses.  In  other  words,  they  divided  the  mission 
field  according  to  nationality.  They  thereby  laid 
the  possible  foundation  for  two  great  churches, 
for  two  organizations,  the  one  Jewish,  the  other 
Gentile,  sharply  divided  and  opposing  each  other, 
much  as  Protestantism  and  Roman  Catholicism 
oppose  each  other  to-day.  The  very  fact  that  they 
desired  that  Paul  preach  his  gospel  only  to  the 
heathen,  and  they  their  gospel  to  the  Jews,  shows 
that  they  expected  Christianity  to  be  thus  divided, 
that  they  regarded  the  law  as  binding  on  the  Jews, 
and  that  there  could  be  no  union,  no  free,  familiar 


148    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

intercourse  on  an  equal  footing  between  the  two 
nationalities. 

The  third  decision  was  a  peculiar  one,  for  it  was 
based  on  the  belief,  in  which  even  Paul  shared, 
that  in  spite  of  the  freedom  of  the  gospel  and  the 
right  of  the  Gentiles  to  a  share  in  it,  the  Jews 
were  nevertheless  possessed  of  a  special  preroga- 
tive ;  that  they  occupied  in  some  respects  the  place 
of  honor.  They  demanded  that  Paul  remember 
the  poor,  that  is,  that  he  should  cause  his  heathen 
converts  to  contribute  to  the  support  of  the  poor 
Christians  among  the  Jews,  and  especially  of  those 
in  Jerusalem.  This  Paul  was  willing  to  do,  for 
it  was  entirely  in  accordance  with  his  ideas  about 
the  peculiar  prerogative  of  the  Jews.  In  the  letter 
to  the  Romans  (iii.  1  ff.)  Paul  asks,  what  advantage 
has  the  Jew  over  the  Greek,  if  both  are  now  to  be 
admitted  to  the  Messiah's  kingdom  in  the  same 
way  and  on  equal  terms  ?  And  he  himself  gives 
the  answer.  First,  it  was  a  great  honor  for  the 
Jews  that  they  had  been  intrusted  with  the  oracles 
of  God.  Through  them  the  whole  world  had  been 
blessed,  for  through  them  God  had  made  known 
to  the  world  far  more  religious  truth  than  through 
any  other  people.  In  this  they  had  been  the 
chosen  people  of  God,  and  that  was  a  great  honor 
for  them.  A  special  promise  had  been  made  to 
them  as  a  people,  that  they  should  be  a  blessing 
to  the  whole  world.  And  then  the  Messiah  had 
come  from  them ;  he  was  a  Jew,  which  was  also 
an  honor  for  them.  Paul  also  expresses  the  same 


THE  BURNING  QUESTION.  149 

truth  a  little  differently  in  the  same  letter,  xv.  27, 
"For  if  the  Gentiles  have  been  made  partakers 
of  their  spiritual  things,  they  owe  it  to  them  also 
to  minister  to  them  in  carnal  things."  The  Jews 
had  been  the  bearers  of  religious  truth  to  the  Gen- 
tiles and  rightly  deserved  to  have  a  share  in  their 
wealth.  The  same  thought  of  the  special  preroga- 
tive of  the  Jew  over  the  Gentile  is  also  expressed 
in  Rom.  i.  16  and  elsewhere ;  "  For  the  gospel  is 
the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  every  one  that 
believeth,  to  the  Jew  first,  and  also  to  the  Greek." 
And  it  was  in  accordance  with  this  that  Paul 
always  began  his  work  by  going  to  the  Jews  first, 
for  he  believed  that  they  had  a  special  right  to  the 
first  offer  of  the  gospel.  This  may  be  regarded 
by  some  as  an  inconsistency  in  Paul. 

In  all  this  Paul  had  made  no  concession  in  any 
way.  His  apostleship  and  gospel  had  been  recog- 
nized and  it  had  been  admitted  that  the  law  in 
general,  and  circumcision  in  particular,  were  not 
to  be  demanded  of  the  Gentile  Christians.  He 
had  won  his  cause,  he  had  been  justified  in  every- 
thing. The  heathen  were  free  from  any  and  every 
observance  of  the  demands  of  the  Old  Testament. 
This  principle  was  fixed.  Nevertheless,  for  the 
sake  of  the  Jews  who  could  not  be  brought  to 
understand  and  accept  this,  for  whom  Moses  was 
still  an  authority,  the  Gentile  Christians  were 
asked  to  abstain  from  certain  things  which  were 
most  offensive  to  the  Jews.  The  request  was 
based  on  the  principle  of  brotherly  love.  They 


150    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

were  not  bound  to  do  this,  but  it  was  that  they 
might  avoid  giving  offense  to  weaker  brethren. 
It  was  not  a  compromise  of  the  principle  for  which 
Paul  had  so  determinedly  contended.  But  it  was 
in  accordance  with  his  other  principle  to  which  he 
often  gave  expression,  as  in  1  Cor.  viii.  13,  "  If 
meat  maketh  my  brother  to  stumble  I  will  eat  no 
flesh  forevermore,  that  I  make  not  my  brother  to 
stumble." 

In  accordance  with  this,  they  were  asked  to  ab- 
stain from  the  pollution  of  idols,  which  is  otherwise 
expressed  in  xv.  29,  as  "  things  sacrificed  to  idols ;  " 
that  is,  they  were  not  to  eat  anything  that  had 
been  offered  in  the  temples,  or  been  used  in  con- 
nection with  the  heathen  worship.  A  few  years 
later  this  same  question  was  raised  in  Corinth,  and 
Paul  gave  them  the  same  answer.  He  told  them 
that  this  in  and  of  itself  was  not  wrong,  but  they 
should  refrain  from  it  because  of  the  weaker 
brethren  who  would  thereby  be  offended.  They 
were  further  to  keep  themselves  from  fornication, 
and  this  is  here  to  be  taken  in  the  widest  sense 
of  the  word,  according  to  which  it  included  not 
only  fornication  and  adultery,  but  probably  also 
marriage  between  persons  who  were  nearly  re- 
lated. It  was  probably  meant  therefore  to  forbid 
the  marriages  that  are  forbidden  in  Lev.  xviii.  It 
must  be  said  also  that  the  heathen  are  apt  to  look 
upon  lust  as  a  natural  appetite,  which  could  be 
satisfied  as  innocently  as  that  of  hunger  or  thirst. 
They  were  further  asked  to  have  regard  to  the 


THE  BURNING  QUESTION.  151 

feelings  of  the  Jews  in  the  use  of  blood.  They 
were  fond  of  flesh  from  which  the  blood  had  not 
been  extracted,  and  even  drank  blood  mingled 
with  wine.  In  order  to  preserve  the  blood  in  the 
flesh  it  was  the  custom  to  strangle  the  animals. 
For  the  Jew  this  was  an  offense,  because,  accord- 
ing to  his  conceptions,  the  blood  was  the  seat  of 
the  soul,  that  is,  of  the  life.1  Paul  agreed  to  this, 
not  as  necessary  and  legally  binding,  but  because 
it  was  all  based  on  the  principle  of  Christian 
brotherly  love.  It  was  not  a  yielding  of  the  great 
principle  of  the  freedom  of  the  Gospel. 

The  purpose  of  this  was  simply  that  the  Jews 
might  not  be  offended ;  it  did  not  look  toward  the 
complete  union  of  the  Gentile  and  Jewish  Chris- 
tians. It  was  not  intended  that  if  the  Qentiles 
should  observe  these  things  the  Jews  should  asso- 
ciate with  them.  For  the  observance  of  these  was 
not  sufficient  on  the  part  of  the  Gentiles  to  have 
free,  untrammeled  intercourse  with  them.  They 
were  still  only  "  God  fearing,"  they  were  not  pros- 
elytes. And  so  here  the  question  of  association 
was  not  discussed,  and  that  cannot  have  been  the 
purpose  of  these  concessions.  That  was  a  ques- 
tion for  the  future.  It  came  up  not  long  after 
this  at  Antioch  (Gal.  ii.  11  ff.).  It  may  have  been 
broached,  but  it  certainly  was  not  settled  at  this 
time  in  Jerusalem.  There  were  at  any  rate  differ- 
ences of  opinion  among  the  leaders  in  regard  to 
this.  Paul  had  already  settled  it  for  himself,  and 

1  See  Gen.  ix.  6,  Lev.  iii.  17,  vii.  26,  xvii.  10-24  and  elsewhere. 


152   HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

was  associating  freely  with  the  Gentiles.  Peter 
had  theoretically  come  to  the  same  principle,  but 
because  of  his  surroundings  had  not  practiced  it. 
But  James  was  still  of  the  opinion  that  they  could 
not  associate.  For  him,  the  distinctions  of  clean 
and  unclean  according  to  the  levitical  -law  were  still 
in  force.  We  cannot  but  look  upon  this  as  an  in- 
consistency and  weakness  in  James.  He  did  not 
fully  comprehend  the  nature  of  Christianity  and 
of  religion  in  general,  since  he  attributed  to  cer- 
tain actions  a  religious  worth  in  and  of  themselves, 
while  Christ  had  said  that  the  religious  worth  of 
everything  depends  on  the  heart.  James  had  in 
common  with  his  Pharisaic  cotemporaries  this 
trait  of  "  externality  in  religion." 

That  these  concessions  were  not  intended  to 
make  free  intercourse  and  complete  union  of  the 
two  nationalities  possible  is  clear  from  two  facts. 
In  the  first  rJlace,  the  mission  field  was  divided  ; 
Paul  was  to  preach  his  gospel  only  to  the  Gentiles 
and  the  others  were  to  preach  to  the  Jews.  What 
sense  can  there  be  in  such  a  division,  if  Jews  and 
Gentiles  were  to  associate  freely  and  all  legal  and 
national  distinctions  were  to  be  disregarded  ? 
That  can  only  mean  that  in  the  church  Jews  and 
Gentiles  were  to  be  sharply  separated  each  from 
the  other,  and  the  thing  that  separated  them  was 
the  observance  of  the  law. 

The  second  fact  is  the  condust  of  Peter  in  An- 
tioch,  not  long  after  this  meeting  at  Jerusalem,  an 
account  of  which  is  contained  in  Gal.  ii.  Peter 


THE  BUBNING  QUESTION.  153 

had  come  to  Antioch,  and  there  in  accordance 
with  his  real  convictions  began  to  associate  with 
the  Gentile  members  of  the  church  without  any 
regard  to  levitical  distinctions.  He  was  simply 
following  what  he  had  long  known  to  be  the  truth, 
but  because  of  the  opposition  from  those  about 
him  had  not  put  into  practice.  But  here  at  Anti- 
och the  liberal  party  was  in  the  majority ;  for  them 
the  question  was  already  settled,  and  Peter  showed 
by  his  conduct  that  he  wholly  agreed  with  Paul. 
But  now  mark  what  happened.  "  Certain  came 
from  James,"  and  out  of  fear  Peter  drew  back 
from  his  Gentile  friends  because  he  feared  "  them 
of  the  circumcision."  That  throws  a  peculiar 
light  on  Peter's  life  from  the  time  of  the  conver- 
sion of  Cornelius.  He  had  lost  caste  with  the 
majority  of  the  church  at  Jerusalem  at  that  time 
by  associating  with  the  uncircumcised.  And  it  is 
to  be  noted  that  from  that  time  on  he  no  longer 
holds  the  first  place  in  Jerusalem,  but  James,  who 
was  far  more  strict  than  he,  now  takes  the  leading 
position  in  the  church  at  Jerusalem.  Peter  had 
thereby  lost  the  leadership  because  of  his  attitude 
to  the  Gentiles.  But  he  had  not  gone  on  and,  in 
spite  of  the  opposition,  developed  an  independent 
activity,  but  had  yielded  to  the  pressure  and  con- 
fined his  work  to  the  Jews.  And  now  when 
"  these  came  from  James,"  he  must  have  known 
whether  they  actually  represented  the  opinion  of 
James  or  not.  He  did  not  wish  to  expose  himself 
to  further  rebukes  from  that  party,  and  so  he  with- 


154    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

drew  himself  from  the  association  with  the  Gen- 
tiles ;  and  that  not  openly  and  at  once,  but  in  such 
a  way  as  to  seem  to  be  still  associating  with  them. 
He  was  between  two  fires :  on  the  one  hand  he 
wished  not  to  offend  the  strict  party,  and  on  the 
other  he  did  not  wish  to  act  contrary  to  his  better 
knowledge  and  offend  the  Gentiles.  Out  of  his 
strong  desire  to  be  at  peace  with  all,  he  was  led  to 
try  to  appear  to  be  on  both  sides  of  the  fence  at 
once.  He  did  not  wish  to  come  into  further  dis- 
repute with  the  Jewish  Christians,  especially  with 
those  at  Jerusalem. 

This  yielding  to  those  who  he  knew  were  in  the 
wrong,  and  acting  contrary  to  his  own  convictions, 
was  in  Paul's  eyes  hypocrisy,  though  it  by  no 
means  follows  that  Peter  felt  that  he  was  guilty 
of  such  a  sin.  Paul  thought  that  the  principle  of 
freedom  was  attacked  and  the  peace  of  mind  of 
the  Gentiles  disturbed.  For  this  Paul  probably 
rebuked  him.  Unfortunately  we  do  not  know 
what  Peter  said  in  excuse  of  his  conduct,  but  it  is 
clear  that  in  principle  he  agreed  with  Paul,  and 
that  he  had  yielded  only  in  the  belief  that  he 
would  thereby  avoid  unpleasant  relations  with 
James  and  his  strict  party  at  Jerusalem. 

For  the  sake  of  clearness  let  us  recapitulate. 
There  were  therefore  at  this  time  among  the 
Christians  three  opinions  in  regard  to  the  law. 
The  first,  it  is  binding  on  all  and  is  to  be  under- 
stood literally ;  the  second,  it  is  binding  only  on  the 
Jews,  but  the  Gentiles  and  Christians  who  do  not 


THE  BURNING  QUESTION.  155 

observe  it  are  on  a  lower  plane,  and  may  not  associ- 
ate with  those  who  do  keep  it ;  the  third,  it  is  bind- 
ing on  none  ;  it  has  done  its  work  in  the  religious 
education  of  the  Jews  and  is  now  superseded  by 
the  higher  dispensation.  A  fourth  appeared  a  few 
years  later  and  finally  prevailed  over  all  the  others, 
that  it  is  binding  on  all,  but  is  to  be  understood 
allegorically.  The  representatives  of  the  second 
and  third  opinions  were  agreed  in  this,  namely, 
that  the  Gentiles  need  not  keep  the  law  ;  but  they 
differed  in  the  conclusions  which  they  drew  from 
it.  The  one  party  failed  to  see  that  it  necessarily 
followed  from  such  an  admission  that  the  Jews 
and  Gentiles  might  freely  associate  with  each 
other,  while  for  Paul  that  was  the  only  logical  in- 
ference that  could  be  drawn  from  it.  The  council 
at  Jerusalem  recognized  that  the  Gentiles  were 
Christians  although  they  did  not  observe  the  law  ; 
but  out  of  regard  to  the  prejudices  or  the  weak- 
ness of  the  Jews  they  were  asked  to  observe  cer- 
tain regulations  which,  however,  were  not  to  be 
regarded  as  sufficient  to  allow  free  and  untram- 
meled  intercourse  and  association  between  them. 
On  the  contrary,  they  were  to  be  separated  from 
each  other,  each  party  following  its  own  principles 
and  development.  There  existed  then  a  Jewish 
Christian  division  and  a  Gentile  Christian  division, 
and  there  was  danger  that  the  two  would  go  far- 
ther and  farther  apart,  and  that  Christianity  would 
thus  from  the  first  be  divided  into  two  great  sects. 
It  is  apparent  then  that  in  this  council  neither 


156   HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

party  got  everything  it  desired.  Concessions  were 
made,  although  on  the  Christian  principle  of  bro- 
therly love.  But  the  council  was  a  failure  in 
many  respects.  The  Judaizers  were  not  at  all 
satisfied  with  it,  and  refused  to  be  bound  by  it. 
From  this  time  on  they  increased  in  bitterness  to- 
ward Paul,  and  developed  greater  hostility  and 
activity  against  him  and  his  work.  From  50  to 
70,  and  perhaps  a  little  later,  they  continued  to 
labor  to  compel  the  Gentiles  to  observe  the  law. 
The  end  of  the  struggle  is  lost  to  our  sight  be* 
cause  we  have  no  literature  from  that  period,  but 
we  can  be  sure  from  various  arguments  that  it 
lasted  until  the  Fall  of  Jerusalem.  It  ended  in  a 
half  victory  and  half  defeat  for  both  parties.  For, 
contrary  to  Paul,  the  church  came  to  believe  that 
the  law  is  binding  on  all ;  but  contrary  to  the 
Judaizers,  that  it  is  not  to  be  understood  literally 
but  allegorically. 

The  council  failed  to  bring  James  and  the  Gen- 
tile Christians  any  nearer  together.  He  still  re- 
mained attached  to  the  law,  and  there  is  nothing 
to  show  that  he  ever  yielded  from  this  position, 
but  he  always  regarded  even  the  Gentile  Chris- 
tians as  ceremonially  unclean,  and  therefore  un- 
able to  associate  with  the  Jews. 

It  produced  no  change  in  the  conduct  of  Paul. 
He  continued  to  associate  with  the  Gentiles  freely, 
but  for  his  own  person  at  least  when  among  the 
Jews,  because  he  wished  to  preach  to  them,  he  still 
kept  the  law.  But  it  by  no  means  followed  that 


THE  BURNING  QUESTION.  157 

he  regarded  it  as  necessary.  On  the  contrary,  he 
continually  taught  that  it  was  a  matter  of  entire 
indifference.  There  is  no  trace  in  his  letters  that 
he  ever  had  anything  to  say  about  the  use  of 
blood,  but  he  often  spoke  against  fornication.  In 
1  Corinthians  he  told  them  that  of  itself  the  use 
of  meats  offered  to  idols  was  perfectly  proper ; 
but  for  the  sake  of  the  conscience  of  the  weaker 
brethren  who  would  thereby  be  offended,  they 
ought  to  abstain  from  its  use.  This  was  therefore 
wholly  in  accordance  with  the  agreement  made  in 
the  council.  It  cannot  be  said  that  it  affected 
Paul  in  any  way  in  his  mission  work.1  He  con- 

1  It  is  perfectly  clear  that  Paul  denied  any  religious  value  to 
the  observance  of  the  law.  It  would  logically  follow  that  as  a 
religious  obligation  it  was  no  longer  binding  on  the  Jev  any  more 
than  on  the  Gentile.  So  far  Paul  went.  But  did  it  follow  that 
the  Jew  ought  to  cease  to  observe  the  law  ?  Not  at  aU,  for  that 
would  be  to  give  up  his  nationality.  Paul  seems  n»t  to  have 
taught  the  Jews  to  cease  observing  the  law,  but  only  t«  have  put 
such  observance  on  the  proper  basis ;  that  is,  the  Jew  might  con- 
tinue to  observe  the  law  as  a  national,  not  as  a  relijrious  duty. 
Among  the  Jews  Paul  seems  to  have  lived  as  a  Jew,  but  among 
the  Gentiles  he  certainly  to  some  extent,  if  not  wholly,  disregarded 
the  law.  He  adopted  the  policy  of  being  all  things  to  all  men,  a 
Jew  to  the  Jews,  a  Gentile  to  the  Gentiles  (1  Cor.  ix.  18-23). 
What  can  that  mean  except  that  among  the  Gentiles  he  I'ved  as 
the  Gentiles?  Again,  at  Antioch  (Gal.  ii.  11-21)  Paul  implies 
that  both  he  and  Peter,  although  Jews,  had  ceased  to  live  as 
Jews,  and  were  living  as  Gentiles.  And  yet  the  Acts  say  *hat 
Paul  thought  the  Jews  ought  to  keep  the  law  and  say  that  he 
himself  kept  it.  For  Timothy  was  a  Jew,  and  so  had  to  be  o'r- 
cumcised.  If  the  account  in  Acts  xxi.  17-26  is  true,  Paul  took 
upon  himself  the  vow  of  the  four  men  for  the  express  purpose  r*f 
proving  to  the  Jews  and  the  Jewish  Christians  of  Jerusalem  tlmt 
he  had  not  been  teaching  the  Jews  to  forsake  Moses,  to  cease  CUP- 


158    HISTOBY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHUECH. 

tinued  to  preach  among  the  Jews  wherever  he 
went,  and  although  he  may  not  have  urged  them 
to  give  up  the  observance  of  the  law,  he  certainly 
taught  that  it  was  of  no  religious  value,  but  that 
they  were  to  be  made  members  of  the  Messiah's 
kingdom  by  believing  in  him,  and  not  by  their 
works  of  the  law.  In  this  he  may  have  acted  in 
accordance  with  the  letter  of  the  agreement,  but 
hardly  in  the  spirit  of  it.  As  is  so  often  the  case 
in  agreements  that  partake  of  the  nature  of  a 
compromise,  each  party  regarded  the  result  as  a 
victory  for  itself,  and  acted  accordingly.  It  was 
certainly  very  quickly  disregarded  by  all,  and  nei- 
ther the  Judaizers  nor  Paul  regarded  themselves 
as  bound  by  it.  The  only  result  of  the  council 
therefore  was  that  the  Gentiles  were  recognized  as 
Christians  by  James,  Peter,  and  John,  but  the 
line  of  separation  between  them  and  the  Jewish 
Christians  was  more  closely  drawn  than  ever.  The 
question  had  still  to  be  decided.  The  real  struggle 
was  yet  to  come.  The  Council  had  but  cleared 
the  deck  for  action.  It  had  made  plain  to  all  par- 
ties what  the  real  issue  was.  And  this  was  fought 
out  between  Paul  and  the  Judaizers  in  the  next 
years,  which  were  so  full  of  trial  and  bitterness 
of  spirit  for  Paul. 

cumcising  their  children  and  to  desert  the  customs,  and  that  he 
himself  also  walked  orderly,  keeping  the  law.  Others  may  decide 
whether  this  is  contradictory  to  Paul's  principle  as  expressed  in 
his  authentic  letters. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.1 

From  the  Council  to  Paul's  arrest  in  the  spring 
of  58  is  a  period  of  about  eight  years,  which  in- 
clude his  best  work,  his  widest  travels,  his  greatest 
influence,  and  his  most  successful  labors.  Above 
all,  to  this  period  belong  his  most  important  letters, 
which  have  been  justly  regarded  as  the  most  pre- 
cious heirlooms  of  this  great  man.  Thanks  to  the 
account  in  the  Acts,  which  becomes  more  exact  and 
detailed,  and  especially  to  the  letters  which  he  wrote, 
we  are  able  to  follow  him  more  closely  and  to  con- 
struct a  much  more  complete  history  of  him  dur- 
ing this  period  than  at  any  other  time  of  his  life. 
Compared  with  this  period,  all  his  previous  labors 
had  been  very  circumscribed.  But  now  his  hori- 
zon extends  itself.  He  begins  to  look  beyond  Asia 
into  Europe.  At  first  he  thought  he  would  be 
satisfied  if  he  could  see  Rome,  but  it  soon  became 
known  to  him  that  Rome  already  had  a  large  and 
flourishing  congregation,  and  as  it  was  his  prin- 
ciple not  to  linger  where  others  had  labored  and 
planted  Christianity,  his  thoughts  ran  on  to  Spain, 

1  Read  Acts  xv.  36-xxi.  26,  1  and  2  Thessalonians,  Galatians, 
1  and  2  Corinthians,  and  Romans. 


160     HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

and  it  became  his  fixed  purpose  to  carry  the  Gos- 
pel to  that  far-off  land. 

We  also  notice  a  change  in  his  policy  from  this 
time.  He  had  traveled  with  only  one  or  two 
helpers  before  this,  but  he  now  begins  to  surround 
himself  with  his  young  disciples,  to  train  them  for 
the  work  and  to  send  them  out  to  carry  on  his 
mission  work,  sometimes  in  new  fields,  sometimes 
in  places  where  he  had  already  established  a  con- 
gregation. In  this  way  he  multiplied  himself  and 
greatly  increased  his  influence.  But  there  was  an- 
other change  which  was  quite  as  important.  He 
had  indeed  for  a  few  years  been  in  Antioch  and 
had  made  that  the  centre  of  his  labors.  But  when 
he  set  out  on  his  journey  with  Barnabas,  he  seems 
not  to  have  confined  himself  to  the  large  cities, 
but  even  in  the  villages  by  the  way  he  had  stopped 
to  preach.  But  during  this  period  he  changed  his 
policy  and  began  to  lay  much  more  emphasis  on 
the  work  in  the  cities.  He  seems  to  have  felt  that 
it  would  be  impossible  for  him  to  evangelize  the 
whole  world,  but  with  the  instinct  of  a  genuine 
conqueror  he  determined  to  plant  Christianity  in 
the  great  centres  of  life  and  trade.  And  so  we 
find  him  spending  eighteen  months  at  Corinth  and 
soon  afterward  beginning  a  three  years'  residence 
in  Ephesus.  These  eight  years  are  generally  di- 
vided into  two  periods  of  nearly  equal  length,  and 
called  respectively  the  second  and  third  missionary 
journeys.  For  the  sake  of  convenience  these  des- 
ignations may  be  retained,  but  it  must  be  remem- 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  161 

bered  that  nearly  half  of  the  time  occupied  by 
the  first  missionary  journey  was  spent  at  Corinth, 
and  almost  all  the  third  one  was  spent  at  Ephesus. 
From  this  it  will  be  seen  that  they  were  not  so 
much  journeys  as  a  change  of  residence. 

Some  time  after  the  council  at  Jerusalem  it  is 
said  that  Paul  proposed  to  Barnabas  to  revisit  the 
churches  which  they  had  established.  According 
to  the  language  of  the  Acts  it  might  be  inferred 
that  Paul's  purpose  was  simply  to  revisit  these, 
and  that  he  had  no  thought  of  extending  his  work. 
But  Paul  undoubtedly,  as  we  know  from  other 
sources,  had  a  desire  to  penetrate  further  into 
Asia  Minor,  and  as  he  must  pass  by  his  congrega- 
tions he  wished  to  revisit  them  by  the  way.  Bar- 
nabas wished  to  take  Mark  with  them  again,  but 
Paul  was  by  no  means  willing  to  trust  him  a  sec- 
ond time.  He  had  deserted  them  and  refused  to  go 
with  them  to  the  work  once,  and  Paul  was  unwill- 
ing to  give  him  another  trial.  There  was  a  sharp 
contention  between  them,  of  a  purely  personal 
nature,  and  as  they  could  not  agree  they  sepa- 
rated, each  going  his  own  way.  Barnabas  took 
Mark  and  sailed  away  to  Cyprus  and  is  lost  to  our 
view,  for  we  have  no  more  information  about  him 
except  the  single  reference  in  1  Cor.  ix.  5,  from 
which  we  infer  that  he  was  still  at  work  in  the 
year  56.  But  we  know  nothing  more  about  him. 
It  is  possible  that  he  wrote  the  letter  to  the 
"Hebrews,"  for  this  is  almost  certainly  not  by 
Paul,  although  it  has  been  attributed  to  him.  But 


162   HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

this  is  only  a  supposition  ;  there  is  no  direct  proof 
that  Barnabas  wrote  it. 

But  Paul  chose  Silas,  who  had  been  until  recently 
a  resident  of  Jerusalem,  and  began  his  journey  into 
the  interior  of  Asia  Minor.  It  is  barely  possible 
that  this  Silas  is  identical  with  the  Silvanus  who  is 
named  in  1  Peter  v.  12,  since  Silvanus  was  often 
contracted  into  Silas.  This  would  be  another  con- 
necting link  between  Peter  and  Paul. 

They  chose  the  land  route,  and  from  Antioch 
passed  through  Syria  into  Cilicia  and  then  up  into 
Cappadocia  to  Derbe  and  Lystra.  Only  the  barest 
outlines  of  the  journey  are  given.  They  revisited 
the  churches  there  and  encouraged  and  strengthened 
them.  It  was  probably  at  Lystra  that  Paul  found 
"  a  certain  disciple  named  Timothy,  the  son  of  a 
believing  Jewess,  but  his  father  was  a  Greek."  He 
was  already  favorably  known  as  a  Christian  mis- 
sionary, and  enjoyed  the  confidence  and  good  opin- 
ion of  the  brethren  in  those  parts.  Eecognizing  his 
ability,  Paul  was  determined  that  he  should  go  with 
him  to  a  wider  field  of  labor  and  usefulness.  Since 
his  mother  was  a  Jewess,  Timothy  was  also  regarded 
as  a  Jew.  In  accordance  with  his  principle  of  being 
a  Jew  to  the  Jews,  and  a  Greek  to  the  Greeks,  he 
now  had  Timothy  circumcised,  that  he  might  have 
a  ready  entrance  into  the  society  of  the  Jews  wher- 
ever he  came.  Though  free  from  the  law,  for  the 
sake  of  others  he  could  sacrifice  his  freedom,  that 
he  might  thereby  bring  them  into  a  greater  freedom. 
Though  not  bound  to  regard  the  prejudices  and 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  163 

ignorance  of  others,  the  law  of  Christ,  which  is  the 
law  of  love  and  service,  made  him  the  servant  of 
all.  So  long  as  his  fundamental  principle  was  not 
in  question,  he  could,  on  the  principle  of  Christian 
brotherly  love,  yield  everything.  Besides,  Timothy 
was  regarded  as  a  Jew,  and  the  common  opinion 
was  that  the  law  was  still  binding  on  the  Jews. 

From  this  region,  Paul  and  his  companions  turned 
to  the  west  into  Phrygia,  and  it  is  probable  that 
even  at  this  time  Paul  had  it  in  mind  to  go  to  Ephe- 
sus.  That  is  evidently  the  inference  to  be  drawn 
from  the  expression  in  Acts  xvi.  6,  "  Having  been 
forbidden  to  speak  the  word  in  Asia."  "Asia" 
was  the  name  of  the  Roman  province  which  was 
formed  by  the  three  ancient  divisions,  Lydia,  Caria, 
and  Lycia,  the  capital  of  which  was  Ephesus.  They 
wished  to  pass  from  Phrygia  into  this  province,  but 
something  which  was  interpreted  as  the  disapproval 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  prevented  them,  so  they  turned 
back  from  Phrygia  into  Galatia.  Here  as  we  have 
seen,  Paul  was  taken  sick  (Gal.  iv.  13).  He  was 
no  longer  able  to  travel,  but  he  could  still  preach 
the  gospel,  so  his  illness  resulted  in  the  establish- 
ment of  Christianity  among  the  Galatians.  We 
have  no  details  of  the  work  done  in  this  region,  since 
the  author  of  the  Acts  simply  says  that  "  they  went 
through  the  region  of  Phrygia  and  Galatia."  In 
Gal.  iv.  13  Paul  only  refers  to  his  illness,  which  was 
of  such  a  character  as  to  render  him  an  object  of 
loathing  and  disgust  to  the  Gentiles,  but  they  had 
received  him  as  an  angel,  nay,  even  as  Christ  him- 


164    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

self ;  a  remarkable  expression,  showing  how  eagerly 
the  gospel  was  accepted  by  many  of  the  Gentiles, 
because  it  so  completely  satisfied  the  deepest  long- 
ings of  their  heart. 

Passing  through  Galatia  they  intended  to  go  into 
Bithynia,  but  again  something  intervened  which 
closed  the  way  to  them.  They  were  now  hemmed  in. 
The  way  to  the  southeast  they  had  just  traveled ; 
the  ways  to  the  southwest  and  to  the  north  were 
closed  to  them.  There  were  but  two  possibilities 
left.  They  could  turn  to  the  northeast  into  Paphla- 
gonia,  or  to  the  western  coast,  from  which  the  pas- 
sage to  Europe  was  easy.  There  is  an  uneasiness 
and  restlessness  in  his  motions  that  show  that  Paul's 
horizon  was  widening.  The  thought  of  establishing 
his  gospel  in  Europe  had  taken  hold  of  his  mind. 
Paul  seems  to  have  felt  the  greatness  of  the  occasion. 
Apparently  not  stopping  to  preach  anywhere,  he 
hastened  through  Mysia  to  Troas,  for  already  he 
felt  the  premonitions  of  the  call  to  a  more  distant 
field.  He  would  have  been  glad  to  remain  in  Asia, 
for  he  saw  much  to  do  there.  But  he  was  impelled 
forward,  though  still  full  of  uncertainty  as  to 
whether  he  should  go  to  Europe  or  not. 

It  was  a  period  of  most  painful  uncertainty  and 
doubt  for  him,  which  has  left  its  traces  in  his  let- 
ters to  the  Corinthians.  He  was  conscious  of  the 
great  national  differences  between  the  Greeks  of 
the  mainland  of  Europe  and  the  mixed  peoples  of 
Asia.  The  Greeks  loved  the  beautiful  to  such  an 
extent  that  they  were  really  unable  to  appreciate 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  165 

anything  unless  it  were  presented  in  a  pleasing  form. 
A  technical  knowledge  and  application  of  rhetoric 
and  the  use  of  fine  language  were  among  the  first 
requisites  in  a  public  speaker  among  them.  Paul 
knew  that  he  was  not  a  trained  rhetorician,  nor 
a  philosopher  acquainted  with  all  the  systematic 
teachings  and  formulas  of  the  schools  of  thought 
and  able  to  present  his  gospel  in  such  a  way  as 
to  make  it  attractive  to  the  aesthetic  and  philosoph- 
ical Greeks.  The  Greeks  were  accustomed  to  being 
entertained  and  pleased  by  traveling  rhetoricians 
and  philosophers.  Was  it  possible  that  he  would 
be  able  to  compete  against  these  with  his  simple 
gospel  of  the  death  and  resurrection  of  Christ  ?  We 
know  that  he  had  a  peculiar  style  of  rhetoric  and 
dialectics,  though  they  were  not  those  of  the  schools, 
but  he  modestly  estimated  this  very  low.  From  his 
own  words,  we  may  be  sure  that  he  never  felt  at 
home  on  this  Greek  soil.  In  Athens,  as  we  shall 
see,  he  made  little  impression,  and  at  Corinth  he 
was  unable  to  hide  the  fact  that  he  felt  this  weak- 
ness and  was  filled  with  fear  and  trembling  for  the 
result.  And  this  very  weakness  of  the  apostle  was 
afterwards  used  as  the  ground  of  contempt  by  some 
of  his  opponents,  in  their  attempt  to  alienate  the 
affections  of  the  Corinthians  from  him.  All  these 
considerations  now  made  him  hesitate.  But  in  this 
state  of  doubt  and  indecision  the  "  vision  of  the  man 
of  Macedonia  "  determined  his  course.  He  regarded 
the  dream  as  an  indication  that  it  was  the  will  of 
God  that  he  should  go  and  preach  the  gospel  unto 
them  also. 


166     HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

And  here  begin  those  remarkable  "  we  "  pieces 
which  continue  with  some  interruptions  to  the  end 
of  the  book.  These  exhibit  their  true  character  at 
once.  They  are  undoubtedly  from  the  diary  of  an 
eye-witness.  He  indicates  that  they  had  a  favor- 
able wind,  for  they  made  a  straight  course  to  Samo- 
thrace,  a  large  island  in  the  -ZEgean  Sea,  and  this 
lasted  but  one  day,  "for  on  the  day  following" 
they  reached  Neapolis.  By  selecting  the  passages 
in  which  "  we  "  occurs,  and  noting  these  little  pecu- 
liarities, we  get  a  good  idea  of  this  diary,  which 
served  as  one  of  the  sources  for  the  history  we  have 
in  the  Acts.  But  unfortunately  the  author  never 
tells  us  his  name,  or  how  he  came  into  the  society 
of  Paul,  or  why  he  accompanied  him.  He  never 
once  indulges  in  personal  reminiscences,  or  auto- 
biographical details.  His  modesty  is  commendable, 
but  we  are  the  losers  by  it.  How  interesting  it 
would  be  if  he  had  but  given  us  the  pages  on  which 
he  described  his  first  interview  with  Paul,  or  the 
first  sermon  he  heard  from  his  lips,  or  the  impres- 
sion which  the  first  message  of  the  gospel  made 
upon  him. 

Neapolis  was  but  the  port  of  Philippi,  which  was 
eight  miles  distant  from  the  coast.  Here  we  see 
one  of  the  first  traces  of  Paul's  change  of  policy  in 
regard  to  the  cities.  He  passed  by  Neapolis  and 
went  at  once  to  the  great  city  of  Philippi.  This 
was  near  a  famous  battle  ground,  for  it  was  on  the 
plains  of  Philippi  that  in  the  year  42  B.  c.  the  civil 
war  that  followed  the  murder  of  Julius  Ca3sar  was 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  167 

ended.  Here  Octavius  and  Antony  met  and  over- 
came Brutus  and  Cassius,  who  in  despair  ended 
their  lives.1  In  honor  of  this  victory,  which  opened 
the  way  for  all  his  future  greatness,  Octavius  made 
Philippi  a  Roman  colony.  That  is,  the  inhabitants 
were  made  Roman  citizens  and  the  city  received  the 
laws  and  government  of  Rome. 

In  Philippi  there  were  not  many  Jews.  They 
seem  not  even  to  have  had  a  synagogue,  but  only 
"  a  place  of  prayer."  Outside  the  city  walls,  under 
the  shadow  of  the  trees  on  the  river  bank,  they  found 
a  few  women  who  had  come  together,  and  they  sat 
down  among  them  and  told  them  the  story  of  the 
cross.  Of  these  women  some  were  Jewish  prose- 
lytes ;  another  fact  in  proof  of  what  has  been  al- 
ready said  in  regard  to  the  missionary  efforts  of 
the  Jews.  Although  there  were  so  few  Jews  in 
Philippi  that  they  did  not  have  a  house  for  their 
meetings,  yet  they  had  made  proselytes,  and  that 
too  among  the  better  classes.  One  of  these  was 
Lydia,  who  had  come  from  Thyatira  and  settled 
in  Philippi  that  she  might  carry  on  the  sale  of  the 
finely  colored  garments  which  were  exported  from 
her  home  in  the  province  of  Lydia.  If  not  a  pros- 
elyte, she  was  at  least  "  one  that  feared  God."  She 
was  apparently  rich,  for  she  had  a  house  and  was 
able  to  entertain  Paul  and  his  company  of  helpers, 
which  now  numbered  at  least  four  persons. 

They    remained    in     Philippi     probably    some 

1  In  connection  with  Philippi  see  Shakespeare,  Julius  Ccesar, 
ActV. 


168   HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

months,  during  which  time  they  seem  not  to  have 
had  any  other  place  of  worship  than  the  place  of 
prayer  already  mentioned.  There  is  no  trace  of 
any  struggle  with  the  Jews,  who,  we  are  led  to 
infer,  were  persuaded  by  Paul  and  believed  in 
Christ.  Their  stay  here  was  abruptly  ended  by  a 
persecution  the  cause  of  which  is  minutely  de- 
scribed. We  meet  here  again  with  one  of  those 
strange  cases  so  frequently  mentioned  in  ancient 
writers,  which  baffle  us  because  we  have  no  scien- 
tific description  of  them,  and  all  the  information 
that  we  have  about  them  is  so  colored  by  the 
superstitions  of  the  age  that  it  is  impossible  to 
form  a  clear  idea  of  the  nature  of  the  disease.  It 
is  probable  that  this  "maid  having  a  spirit  of 
divination  "  was  suffering  from  hysteria  or  some 
similar  form  of  nervous  and  mental  disease,  and 
that  her  masters  had  control  over  her  to  such  an 
extent  that  they  could  in  some  way  force  her  to 
fall  into  a  fit  of  hysteria.  In  this  condition  she 
spoke  with  a  strange  tone,  which  the  ancients 
called  ventriloquism,  and  was  regarded  as  the 
peculiar  speech  of  soothsayers  and  fortune-tellers. 
It  was  the  common  belief  that  the  poor  creatures 
thus  afflicted  could  foretell  the  future,  and  her 
masters  were  thus  imposing  on  the  credulity  of 
the  people  and  using  her  for  the  purpose  of  making 
gain,  a  very  common  form  of  swindle  practiced  in 
those  days.  "  But  when  her  masters  saw  that  the 
hope  of  their  gain  was  gone,  they  laid  hold  on  Paul 
and  Silas  and  dragged  them  into  the  market  place 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  169 

before  the  rulers."  But  they  were  careful  to  frame 
their  charges  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  it  appear 
that  Paul  and  Silas  were  offending  against  the 
laws  of  the  state.  In  the  first  place,  it  was  said 
that  they  were  Jews.  Of  course  this  in  itself  was 
not  a  criminal  offense  ;  it  was  only  an  appeal  to 
the  popular  dislike  of  the  Jews.  Being  Jews,  it 
was  to  be  expected  that  they  had  done  something 
offensive  and  worthy  of  punishment.  The  real 
charge  was  that  they  were  trying  to  introduce  a 
foreign  religion,  one  that  was  regarded  as  unlaw- 
ful. Attention  has  already  been  called  to  the  fact 
that  Eastern  religions  were  forbidden  in  the  West, 
and  Paul  and  Silas  were  charged  with  having  acted 
contrary  to  this  law.  "  These  men,  beiug  Jews,  do 
exceedingly  trouble  our  city,  and  set  forth  customs 
which  it  is  not  lawful  for  us  to  receive,  or  to  ob- 
serve, being  Romans  "  (Acts  xvi.  20,  21).  The  trial 
is  passed  over  so  rapidly  that  we  cannot  follow  it. 
It  appears  that  the  crowd  made  a  demonstration 
against  them,  and  that  the  magistrates,  probably 
without  an  examination,  ordered  them  to  be  beaten 
with  rods  and  then  put  into  prison. 

On  the  following  day  the  magistrates  sent  their 
officers  to  have  them  released,  but  now  Paul  de- 
clares that  they  are  Roman  citizens  and  that  the 
magistrates  must  make  certain  amends  for  having 
beaten  them.  Beating  with  rods  was  a  punish- 
ment for  slaves,  but  free  Roman  citizens  were 
protected  against  all  such  dishonoring  forms  of 
punishment.  But  why  did  Paul  allow  himself  to 


170  HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

be  beaten  ?  Why  did  he  not  at  once  declare  that 
he  was  a  Roman  citizen  ?  What  purpose  can  he 
have  had  in  allowing  himself  thus  to  be  beaten 
when  he  might  by  a  word  have  escaped  it  ?  Ques- 
tions which  we  cannot  answer.  Perhaps  he  sub- 
mitted to  the  punishment  in  order  that  he  might 
get  some  power  over  the  magistrates  by  being  able 
to  assume  the  position  of  an  injured  party.  Per- 
haps he  thought  he  could  thereby  make  better 
terms  with  them,  and  so  secure  the  Christians  from 
all  molestation.  It  is  possible  too  that  the  magis- 
trates paid  no  attention  to  his  claims  to  Roman 
citizenship,  for  Paul  himself  says  that  he  had  been 
three  times  beaten  witli  rods  (2  Cor.  xi.  25). 
This  was  the  Roman  form  of  punishment,  while 
the  Jews  used  scourges.  So  that  three  times  at 
least  his  Roman  citizenship  had  not  protected  him. 
Paul  also  refers  to  this  in  his  first  letter  to  the 
Thessalonians  (ii.  2),  where  he  reminds  them  that 
in  spite  of  his  sufferings  and  the  shameful  treat- 
ment which  he  had  received  at  Philippi,  he  had 
boldly  preached  the  gospel  of  God  to  them. 

The  church  at  Philippi  is  especially  interesting 
to  us  on  many  accounts.  There  were  few  Jews 
there,  and  this  seems  to  have  had  some  effect  on 
its  history  and  development.  It  remained  true 
to  Paul,  and  we  have  no  traces  of  the  work  and 
influence  of  the  Judaizers  among  its  members. 
The  letter  which  Paul  wrote  to  this  church  from 
Rome,  about  the  year  62,  is  one  of  the  most  in- 
teresting and  charming  that  we  have  from  his  pen. 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  171 

From  the  whole  tone  of  the  letter,  as  well  as  from 
the  many  endearing  expressions  which  occur  in  it, 
we  might  justly  say  that  it  was  Paul's  favorite 
congregation.  From  this  letter,  as  well  as  from 
the  Acts,  we  learn  that  there  was  a  unique,  intimate 
relation  existing  between  them.  No  other  congre- 
gation seems  to  have  come  so  close  to  Paul's  heart. 
This  is  apparent  from  two  facts ;  the  one,  that 
Paul  allowed  himself  to  be  entertained  by  one  of 
its  members,  the  other  that  on  several  occasions  he 
accepted  money  from  them.  It  was  entirely  con- 
trary to  his  custom  to  be  entertained  by  his  con- 
verts, for  he  generally  worked  with  his  hands  and 
supported  himself  by  his  own  labors,  that  he  might 
not  seem  to  be  making  gain  out  of  the  gospel. 
But  at  Philippi,  from  some  cause  or  other,  he  saw 
that  he  could  allow  himself  to  be  entertained  by 
Lydia  without  incurring  such  a  charge.  And  sev- 
eral times  afterward  they  sent  him  money  to  re- 
lieve his  wants.  While  he  was  at  Thessalonica 
they  sent  him  money  "  once  and  again,"  or  as  we 
would  say,  "  a  few  times  "  (Phil.  iv.  16).  While 
he  was  at  Corinth  he  refused  to  receive  any  sup- 
port in  any  way  from  the  Corinthians,  although 
lie  was  in  want.  Yet  Silas  and  Timothy,  when 
they  came  from  Macedonia,  brought  him  further 
gifts  from  the  churches  there.  But  this  was  not  a 
passing  affection  for  the  apostle  on  the  part  of 
the  Philippians.  It  lasted  throughout  his  whole 
life.  For,  years  afterward,  when  he  was  a  prisoner 
in  Rome,  they  again  sent  him  money  by  the  hand 


172    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

of  Epaphroditus,  one  of  their  number.  We  know 
little  of  the  history  of  the  congregation,  but  it 
seems  to  have  been  noted  for  its  liberality.  From 
2  Cor.  viii.  1-5,  we  learn  that  its  members  were 
subjected  to  a  good  deal  of  persecution,  but  that 
in  spite  of  this  they  were  contributing  largely  to 
the  funds  that  were  being  collected  for  the  poor  at 
Jerusalem. 

His  stay  in  Philippi  was  cut  short  by  the  scourg- 
ing and  imprisonment.  The  magistrates,  fearing 
the  violence  of  the  mob,  asked  them  to  leave  the 
city.  They  were  not  ordered  to  go  away,  but  as 
Paul  always  had  regard  for  the  public  peace  and 
never  wantonly  provoked  opposition  of  any  kind, 
they  called  the  brethren  together,  comforted  them, 
and  took  their  departure. 

Their  next  field  of  labor  was  Thessalonica,  a 
large  city  having  a  numerous  Jewish  population. 
At  this  time  there  was  a  severe  famine  in  the  city 
and  the  neighboring  country,  and  there  was  much 
want  and  distress  there.  This  accounts  therefore 
for  the  fact  that  the  Philippians  sent  him  money 
during  his  stay  in  Thessalouica  (Phil.  iv.  16). 
As  usual,  Paul  began  in  the  synagogue,  proving 
from  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament  that  the 
common  Messianic  expectations  were  false,  but  that 
the  Messiah  should  suffer,  and  then  showing  how 
these  prophecies  had  been  fulfilled  in  the  history  of 
Jesus.  The  make-up  of  this  congregation  is  clearly 
stated.  Some  of  the  Jews  were  persuaded,  but  evi- 
dently not  many  of  them.  A  great  multitude  of 


THE  BEST  YEAES  OF  PAUL.  173 

the  Greeks  that  had  already  been  under  the  influ- 
ence of  the  teachings  of  Judaism,  and  quite  a  num- 
ber of  women  who  were  members  of  the  principal 
families  in  the  city,  believed.  Here,  as  everywhere 
else,  women  of  rank  and  wealth  had  embraced  the 
principal  truths  of  Judaism,  but  now  readily  ac- 
cepted Christianity  and  were  of  the  greatest  influ- 
ence in  spreading  it  among  the  members  of  their 
households. 

But  the  Jews  were  stirred  up  by  the  success  of 
Paul  in  spreading  what  they  regarded  as  abom- 
inable heresy,  and  began  an  agitation  against  him 
which  was  destined  to  make  Thessalonica  unsafe 
for  him  and  so  to  compel  him  to  leave.  Since 
they  were  Jews  their  opposition  must  have  been 
purely  from  religious  motives,  but,  as  is  generally 
the  case,  the  means  employed  were  far  from  being 
religious.  They  easily  found  the  means  of  gath- 
ering a  mob  of  the  lazy  loafers  that  throng  the 
streets  of  every  southern  city,  ready  for  any  act  of 
violence  that  offers  either  pleasure  or  profit.  With 
these  they  assaulted  the  house  of  Jason,  who  was 
apparently  one  of  the  principal  converts,  and 
dragged  him  and  some  of  the  other  brethren  before 
the  magistrates.  They  very  shrewdly  kept  their 
religious  hatred  in  the  background,  and  preferred 
only  political  charges  against  them.  It  is  interest- 
ing to  note  how  easily  the  language  of  the  gospel 
could  be  made  to  appear  treasonable.  Paul  cer- 
tainly preached  that  Jesus  was  the  Messiah,  that 
he  had  established  the  kingdom  of  God,  but  the 


174    HISTOEY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHUECH. 

Jews  clearly  knew  that  he  did  not  preach  that 
Jesus  was  to  be  made  king  in  the  place  of  the 
Roman  emperor.  There  was  nothing  in  his 
preaching  that  would  lead  to  a  revolt  against 
the  Roman  government.  Yet  his  language  could 
easily  be  so  twisted  and  garbled  as  to  make  it  ap- 
pear that  he  was  preaching  treason  and  endeavor- 
ing to  set  up  another  kingdom. 

They  gave  the  Messiahship  of  Jesus  a  political 
coloring,  for  they  knew  that  no  other  charge  would 
so  quickly  arouse  the  government  to  vigorous  action 
as  the  danger  of  a  political  insurrection.  The 
character  of  the  Jew  is  apparent  in  this  whole 
transaction.  Everywhere  he  was  turbulent,  and 
always  causing  the  Roman  authorities  trouble ;  at 
every  opportunity  he  stirred  up  a  mob  and  raised 
the  standard  of  revolt.  He  was  the  most  unpa- 
triotic, the  least  Roman,  of  all  the  nationalities  that 
formed  a  part  of  the  Empire.  But  now,  when  it 
served  his  purpose,  he  could  throw  up  his  hat  and 
shout  for  Caesar,  and  be  the  first  to  denounce  the 
followers  of  "another  king,  Jesus."  In  this  at- 
tempt against  Paul  they  were  unsuccessful,  for 
they  were  unable  to  find  him.  Jason  and  his 
friends  were  able  to  give  security  that  he  would 
keep  the  peace,  and  to  persuade  the  authorities 
that  he  was  not  guilty  of  treason,  so  he  was  set 
free.  But  the  city  was  no  longer  safe  for  Paul 
and  Silas.  They  were  sent  away  to  Beroaa  by 
night.  From  this  fact  we  may  form  some  estimate 
of  the  danger  of  the  situation.  But  although  Paul 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  175 

and  Silas  escaped,  the  Christians  whom  they  left 
behind  were  exposed  to  many  persecutions.  In 
the  course  of  a  few  months  at  most,  Paul  reached 
Corinth,  from  which  place  he  wrote  the  two  letters 
to  the  Thessalonians.  By  studying  these  we  are 
able  to  glean  some  information  about  the  condition 
of  the  church  and  the  character  and  contents  of 
the  gospel  which  he  preached. 

In  the  first  letter  he  praises  them  very  much, 
that  they  had  accepted  the  gospel  in  the  face  of 
opposition  and  persecution.  They  had  become 
imitators  of  Christ  and  of  Paul  in  that  they  had 
"  received  the  word  in  much  affliction."  They  had 
also  become  imitators  of  the  Christian  churches  in 
Judaea,  for  as  the  Jewish  Christians  had  suffered 
at  the  hands  of  the  unbelieving  Jews,  so  also  the 
heathen  Christians  at  Thessalonica  had  suffered 
at  the  hands  of  their  heathen  neighbors.  In  the 
second  chapter  Paul  indulges  in  a  kind  of  review 
of  his  conduct  while  he  was  among  them,  remind- 
ing them  of  the  kind  of  life  he  had  led  while  there, 
his  manner  of  dealing  with  each  one,  his  blameless 
conduct,  and  his  many  exhortations  that  they 
"  should  walk  worthily  of  God,"  who  was  calling 
them  into  his  glorious  kingdom. 

We  learn,  too,  that  Paul  had  been  compelled  to 
leave  Thessalonica  before  he  was  sure  that  the 
gospel  had  been  firmly  established,  and  he  had 
earnestly  desired  to  return  to  them.  Indeed  he 
seems  to  have  made  an  effort  more  than  once  to 
get  back,  but  "  Satan  "  hindered  him,  which  means 


176    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

that  because  of  the  persecutions  and  opposition  he 
had  not  been  able  to  return.  But  since  he  him- 
self could  not  come,  he  had  sent  Timothy  to  com- 
fort and  strengthen  them  and  to  encourage  them 
in  the  persecution  that  was  troubling  them  so. 
Timothy  had  just  returned  to  him  at  Corinth, 
bringing  good  news  from  them,  which  comforted 
him,  although  he  himself  was  in  great  distress  and 
affliction.  Something  was  oppressing  him,  and  he 
seems  to  have  been  unable  to  work  with  all  his 
accustomed  energy  in  Corinth,  until  Timothy  and 
Silas  joined  him.  The  good  news  which  they 
brought  from  the  churches  in  Macedonia,  and 
especially  from  the  Thessalonians,  at  once  cheered 
him,  and  he  "  was  constrained  by  the  word,"  as  the 
author  of  the  Acts  expresses  it  (xviii.  5).  Paul 
regarded  it  as  a  new  lease  of  life,  for  he  wrote 
them,  "  For  now  we  live,  if  ye  stand  fast  in  the 
Lord." 

But  he  still  hoped  to  return  to  them,  for  night 
and  day  he  was  praying  that  he  might  see  their 
face  again,  and  that  God  would  direct  his  way  to 
them.  But  it  was  some  years  before  Paul  actually 
was  able  to  go  to  Thessalonica  again,  and  we  know 
nothing  at  all  of  the  condition  in  which  he  found 
them  then.  The  fourth  chapter  begins  with  a  dis- 
cussion of  two  closely  related  questions  which  had 
to  be  discussed  in  every  church  that  was  established 
among  the  Gentiles,  namely,  those  of  chastity  and 
of  marriage.  The  prevailing  heathen  ideas  and 
practices  were  so  far  from  what  they  should  have 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  177 

been,  that  especial  efforts  had  to  be  made  to  secure 
the  proper  conduct  on  the  part  of  the  heathen 
Christians.  The  question  of  the  resurrection  and 
the  fate  of  those  who  died  before  the  coming  of 
Christ  were  also  troubling  the  Thessalonians,  and 
Paul  takes  this  opportunity  of  assuring  them  that 
it  is  immaterial  whether  they  live  until  Christ 
comes  or  not.  For  those  who  have  died  will  be 
raised  from  the  dead,  and  those  that  are  still  alive 
will  be  caught  up  in  the  air  to  meet  the  Lord,  and, 
what  was  of  most  importance,  they  should  all  "  be 
forever  with  the  Lord."  But  for  his  appearance 
all  should  be  continually  on  the  watch,  for  no  one 
knows  the  time  of  his  coming.  And  this  watch- 
fulness consists  in  the  proper  kind  of  life,  in  living 
as  is  becoming  the  sons  of  light.  They  should  be 
sober,  and  guard  and  fight  against  sin  of  every 
kind.  Some  of  their  number  had  taken  it  upon 
themselves  to  labor  for  the  spread  of  the  gospel, 
and  for  their  edification  and  instruction.  Since 
all  such  had  voluntarily  taken  upon  themselves 
this  work  of  love,  they  were  to  be  highly  esteemed 
and  regarded  with  honor  for  the  work's  sake.  The 
disorderly  should  be  admonished,  the  fearful  ones 
encouraged,  the  weak  supported.  Above  all  the 
spirit  must  not  be  quenched,  but  each  one  should 
have  the  right  to  speak  whatever  message  he 
might  have  received.  These  prophesyings  should 
not  be  despised,  but  they  were  to  be  tested,  and 
that  which  is  good  and  approved  must  be  held 
fast. 


178    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

The  second  letter  l  was  written  very  soon  after- 
wards. The  first  letter  had  undoubtedly  had  good 
effect  on  them,  but  there  were  some  questions 
still  agitating  them,  and  there  were  signs  of  an 
increasingly  unhealthy  condition.  The  persecu- 
tions and  troubles  from  the  heathen  were  still  con- 
tinued. Perhaps  that  had  something  to  do  with 
the  growing  enthusiasm  that  was  now  threatening 
to  injure  the  congregation.  They  were  all  espe- 
cially interested  in  the  question  of  the  return  of 
Christ,  and  many  of  them  had  given  up  their  occu- 
pations, had  quit  their  work,  and  were  spending 
their  time  in  discussing  this.  It  had  already  led 
to  great  disorder  in  the  congregation.  Paul  re- 
bukes all  such,  and  emphasized  the  fact  that  all 
Christians  should  attend  to  their  duties,  living 
soberly,  quietly,  and  honorably  before  all. 

In  regard  to  the  second  coming  of  Christ,  Paul 
probably  made  the  matter  very  clear  to  the  Thessa- 
lonians  in  the  first  twelve  verses  of  the  second  chap- 
ter. They  may  have  understood  it,  but  it  is  cer- 
tain that  no  one  now  knows  what  he  meant.  His 
language  is  simply  inexplicable.  Every  one  who 
has  written  about  it  has  had  some  more  or  less 
ingenious  explanation  of  it,  but  no  one  is  able  to 
say  what  it  means.  It  is  hopelessly  dark  and  ob- 
scure. He  speaks  of  the  "  falling  away,"  but  of  the 

1  There  are  many  who  question  the  genuineness  of  the  second 
letter  to  the  Thessalonians.  There  are  some  difficulties  connected 
•with  it,  but  it  is  by  no  means  sure  that  this  is  not  a  genuine  letter 
of  the  Apostle  Paul. 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  179 

falling  away  of  what  ?  And  of  "  the  man  of  sin, 
the  son  of  perdition,"  who  exalts  himself  against 
all  that  is  called  God,  or  that  is  worshiped ;  he  sits 
in  the,  temple  of  God,  he  claims  to  be  God,  but 
who  or  what  this  is,  it  is  impossible  to  say.  There 
is  something  that  restrains,  but  what  it  is,  or  what 
it  restrains,  is  not  clear.  "  The  mystery  of  law- 
lessness is  already  at  work,"  he  says,  but  what 
this  is  still  remains  a  mystery.  Something  re- 
strains until  something  is  taken  out  of  the  way, 
but  there  is  no  clew  as  to  what  either  of  the 
"  somethings  "  is.  And  then  the  "  lawless  one 
shall  be  revealed,"  but  who  he  is,  no  one  knows. 
The  language  is  all  so  indefinite  that  it  can 
easily  be  made  to  apply  to  almost  anything,  and 
so  the  commentators  have  all  tried  to  exhibit  their 
originality  and  penetration  of  intellect  by  giving 
out  some  new  and  startling  interpretation  of  this 
passage.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  no  one  has  been 
able  to  solve  its  difficulties.  It  is  curious  to  note 
that  some  one  had  already  been  forging  letters  in 
Paul's  name  (ii.  2),  and  he  saw  himself  compelled 
to  guard  against  all  such  forgeries  in  the  future  by 
signing  his  letters  himself  (iii.  17). 

From  Thessalonica  they  came  to  Berrea,  where 
they  had  more  success  among  the  Jews  than  in  any 
other  place.  Apparently  the  majority  of  the  Jews 
there  believed,  as  well  as  many  of  their  prose- 
lytes. But  the  Jews  of  Thessalonica  are  said  to 
have  followed  them  to  Beroea,  and  to  avoid  the 
danger  Paul  was  sent  off  to  Athens,  but  Silas  and 
Timothy  remained  in  Macedonia. 


180    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

Paul  waited  in  Athens  for  the  coming  of  Silas 
and  Timothy.  Whether  they  actually  came,  or  not, 
we  cannot  tell.  It  is  probable  that  Timothy  came 
alone,  but  Paul  was  so  exercised  in  mind  about  the 
Thessalonians  that  he  at  once  sent  him  back  to 
Macedonia  to  visit  and  strengthen  them  (1  Thess. 
iii.  2.)  But  although  alone  in  Athens,  he  was  by 
no  means  idle.  He  was  in  the  very  citadel  of 
heathenism,  of  idolatry.  Athens  was  the  seat  of 
the  greatest  university  in  the  world,  and  its  profes- 
sors were  of  course  all  heathen.  It  exerted  the 
greatest  influence  on  the  thought  and  culture  of 
the  world.  It  long  remained  the  university,  and 
even  Christian  parents  sent  their  children  there 
to  be  educated.  Some  of  the  great  church  fathers 
received  their  education  at  the  heathen  university 
of  Athens.  It  became  the  centre  of  literary  and 
philosophical  opposition  to  Christianity  until  529 
A.  D.,  when  the  Emperor  Justinian  drove  out  the 
professors  and  forbade  all  further  instruction  to 
be  given  by  heathen  teachers.  At  this  time  it 
was  the  home  of  philosophy  and  philosophers. 
They  wandered  about  through  the  streets,  market- 
places, and  cool  colonnades,  surrounded  by  their 
pupils,  discussing  the  highest  and  most  important 
questions  as  well  as  the  most  trivial. 

But  Athens  was  also  the  home  of  the  gods,  for 
no  other  city  had  so  many  fine  temples  as  she. 
Only  a  few  of  them  are  still  standing,  and  al- 
though desolate  and  robbed  of  their  ornaments 
and  works  of  art,  they  are  still  the  wonder  and 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  181 

admiration  of  the  world.  She  was  rich  in  works 
of  art  of  all  kinds,  but  especially  in  statues. 
They  were  everywhere.  The  temples,  the  market- 
places, and  even  the  streets  were  crowded  with 
them,  so  that  one  writer  said  that  in  Athens  it  was 
easier  to  find  a  god  than  a  man.  But  Athens 
was  now  falling  into  decay.  Her  supremacy  had 
passed  away.  Her  sister  city,  Corinth,  had  robbed 
her  of  her  commerce,  and  she  was  no  longer  the 
capital,  but  ranked  as  a  provincial  city.  Her  vis- 
itors were  composed  largely  of  students  and  philo- 
sophers, artists,  and  pilgrims,  who  came  to  study 
or  worship  at  her  famous  altars.  The  great  tide 
of  travel  between  the  East  and  the  West  swept  past 
without  touching  her.  She  was  now  neglected, 
and  nearly  a  hundred  years  were  to  pass  away  be- 
fore the  world  should  again  be  filled  with  admira- 
tion and  veneration  for  her.  She  was  yet  to  expe- 
rience a  period  of  restoration  and  renovation,  and 
even  of  wealth  and  prosperity,  but  at  this  time 
her  fortunes  and  name  were  at  their  ebb.  Time 
and  the  rest  of  the  world  had  sped  on,  leaving  her 
by  the  way.  And  as  in  some  sleepy,  inland  college 
town,  where  the  pulse-beats  of  life  are  slow  and  the 
sharp  competition  and  stir  of  commerce  are  un- 
known, the  people  spent  their  time  in  the  discus- 
sion of  the  most  varied  topics.  All  the  life  she 
had  was  intellectual,  all  her  energies  were  con- 
sumed in  discussion. 

The  genius  of  Paul  is  again  made  apparent  by 
his  conduct  here.     He  easily  adapted  himself  to 


182    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHUECH. 

the  situation,  and  adopted  the  methods  of  the  phi- 
losophers, and  went  about  through  the  streets  en- 
tering into  conversation  whenever  opportunity  pre- 
sented itself.  He  met  some  of  the  philosophers 
themselves,  and  to  the  gaping  crowds  that  gathered 
about  him  he  told  the  story  of  the  cross  and  of 
the  resurrection.  But  they  did  not  understand 
him.  It  seemed  to  them  that  he  was  trying  to 
introduce  two  new  gods,  whom  he  called  Jesus  and 
the  Resurrection.  They  were  greatly  interested  in 
that,  for  what  could  be  more  interesting  to  them 
than  the  announcement  of  a  new  god  ?  And  here 
were  two  of  them  at  once  !  It  seems  strange  to 
us  that  they  should  have  thought  of  the  Resurrec- 
tion as  a  god,  but  we  must  remember  that  they 
had  peopled  the  groves  with  gods ;  they  looked 
upon  every  stream  as  the  home  of  spirits,  and  the 
winds  as  manifestations  of  various  gods.  In  short 
they  brought  everything  into  direct  connection 
with  some  god ;  hence  it  is  not  strange  that  they 
thought  of  Jesus  and  of  the  Resurrection  as  new 
gods,  with  whose  powers  they  were  eager  to  be- 
come acquainted.  The  crowd  of  curious  listeners 
was  so  great  that  a  larger  space  was  necessary, 
and  in  their  eagerness  they  hurried  him  up  to 
the  broad  rocky  plateau  overlooking  the  city,  and 
asked  him  to  explain  his  teaching  at  greater 
length.  And  here  on  Mars'  Hill,  in  the  midst 
of  the  expectant  throng,  Paul  preached  one  of  the 
greatest  sermons  of  his  life.  It  was  a  supreme 
moment  in  his  life  and  in  the  history  of  Christian- 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  188 

ity.  The  simple  gospel  which  had  its  beginning  in 
the  far-off  Galilee  was  here  face  to  face  with  the 
representatives  and  teachers  of  the  world's  reli- 
gion. It  was  like  "  bearding  the  lion  in  his  den," 
for  Christianity  was  here  attacking  the  very  strong- 
hold of  polytheism.  There  is  something  dramatic 
in  the  situation  and  impressive  in  the  thought. 
The  occasion  was  inspiring,  and  Paul  felt  the  im- 
portance of  the  hour.  The  author  of  the  Acts  felt 
it,  too,  for  in  describing  this  his  style  and  language 
became  more  elevated. 

Paul's  text  was  "  The  unknown  God."  It  is  a 
fact  attested  by  more  than  one  reliable  ancient 
author  that  there  were  altars  in  Athens  erected  to 
unknown  divinities,  and  as  Paul  had  been  wander- 
ing about  through  the  city,  his  eye  caught  one  of 
those  strange  inscriptions  which  furnished  him 
with  both  text  and  sermon.  The  thought  of  this 
address  is  akin  to  that  of  the  first  three  chapters 
of  Romans,  where  Paul  declares  that  God  had 
written  his  law  in  the  hearts  of  the  heathen.  For 
Paul  sees  in  the  Athenians  a  deep  religious  sense, 
perverted  to  idols,  to  be  sure,  and  mixed  with 
much  ignorance  and  superstition,  but  still  in  its 
inmost  purpose  inspired  by,  and  directed  to,  the 
one  true  God.  In  the  fact  that  they  had  erected 
altars  to  an  unknown  god,  Paul  sees  the  proof  that 
their  many  gods  had  not  satisfied  them  ;  there  were 
aspirations  and  desires  which  their  known  gods  did 
not  fulfil.  The  deeper  thoughts  and  affections  of 
the  soul  looked  beyond  the  known  gods  to  one  al- 


184    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

though  unknown,  yet  dimly  felt,  who  would  satisfy 
the  soul  thus  feeling  after  its  Creator. 

So  Paul  begins,  not  with  a  tirade  on  the  sin  of 
idolatry,  but,  genius-like,  finding  common  ground 
on  which  to  stand  with  them,  and  naturally  and 
beautifully  introducing  his  message  of  the  one  true 
God.  He  did  all  he  could  to  put  his  audience  and 
himself  on  good  terms  with  each  other,  for  he  be- 
gan his  address  with  a  compliment  to  his  hearers. 
The  Athenians  were  proud  of  the  reputation  which 
they  enjoyed  of  being  devotedly  religious.  Every 
god  found  a  welcome  among  them,  and  a  temple 
or  an  altar  where  he  might  be  worshiped.  Be- 
cause of  their  care  of  the  gods  they  were  every- 
where spoken  of  as  the  most  religious  people  of 
the  world.  And  Paul  in  his  first  sentence  admitted 
that  they  indeed  deserved  this  praise.  "  Ye  men 
of  Athens,  I  see  that  you  are  indeed  very  religious, 
for  fearful  lest  through  ignorance  you  should  fail 
to  pay  the  proper  homage  to  all,  you  have  even 
erected  an  altar  with  the  inscription  *  To  an  un- 
known God.'  "  1  In  a  masterly  way  he  assumes 
that  this  unknown  God  is  the  God  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, the  God  whom  Jesus  had  revealed  as  the 

1  King  James's  version  as  well  as  the  Revisers  by  their  false 
translation  have  here  made  Paul  appear  to  be  guilty  of  insulting 
the  Athenians  by  his  first  words  by  declaring  that  they  were  very 
superstitious.  But  any  one  who  reads  the  whole  passage  and  con- 
siders its  tone  will  see  at  once  that  Paul  did  not  mean  to  insult 
them,  but  that  he  really  recognized  that  their  reputation  was  well 
founded,  and  that  they  were  exceedingly  religious,  and  to  the  best 
of  their  knowledge  careful  for  the  honor  of  the  gods. 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  185 

Father  of  all,  and  declares  that  he  brings  them  a 
message  from  Him.  He  then  sets  forth  his  char- 
acter. He  is  the  Creator  of  all  things,  the  Lord 
of  Heaven  and  Earth  ;  He  needs  nothing  from  his 
creatures,  nay,  rather,  He  gave  them  all  they  have. 
He  it  is  that  has  created  all  men  of  one  race,  and 
hence  all  are  his  offspring,  his  children.  He  does 
not  dwell  in  temples  made  by  our  hands,  for  He  is 
exalted  above  all  such  things.  Since  we  are  his 
children,  we  ought  to  suppose  that  we  resemble 
Him,  and  from  what  we  know  of  ourselves  we 
ought  to  be  able  to  form  a  better  estimate  of  Him 
and  of  his  character.  We  ought  not  to  think  that 
He  can  be  worthily  represented  by  any  statue,  of 
whatever  material.  From  our  own  character,  our 
sense  of  right  and  wrong,  of  justice,  and  from  all 
the  nobler  qualities  which  we  possess,  we  ought  to 
be  able  to  think  of  Him  in  a  far  more  becoming 
way.  Paul  appeals  to  their  moral  sense.  This 
unknown  God  now  calls  on  men  everywhere  to 
repent,  for  He  has  appointed  a  day  of  judgment 
on  which  all  will  receive  rewards  or  punishments 
according  to  their  conduct.  He  has  given  a  sure 
proof  of  this  in  that  He  raised  up  the  man  Jesus 
from  the  dead. 

The  resurrection  of  the  dead  was  a  stumbling- 
block  to  the  Greeks,  and  at  the  mention  of  this 
some  mocked ;  others  said,  "  We  will  hear  you 
again,"  a  polite  way  of  saying  that  they  were  not 
persuaded  by  his  words.  He  had  little  success 
there.  The  gospel  was  too  simple  for  them.  It 


186    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

may  be  remarked  here  that  Christianity  was  gene- 
rally not  acceptable  to  the  Greeks  until  the  simple 
teaching  of  Christ,  the  most  of  which  deals  with 
character  and  conduct,  was  perverted  into  a  philo- 
sophical, speculative,  theological  system,  and  the 
essence  of  religion  was  made  to  consist  in  know- 
ledge instead  of  the  childlike  attitude  of  the  heart 
toward  God. 

But  what  impression  did  all  the  beauties  of 
Athens  make  on  Paul  ?  Probably  he  was  insensi- 
ble to  her  aesthetic  side,  the  beauty  of  her  temples, 
and  her  works  of  art.  For  Paul  was  a  Jew,  and 
the  Jews  were  bitterly  opposed  to  all  representa- 
tions of  the  human  body.  And  besides,  much  of 
the  art  was  idolatrous,  and  hence  must  have  been 
an  abomination  in  his  eyes.  But  his  greatness  was 
apparent  in  the  fact  that  he  did  not  indulge  in 
invective  or  violence,  but  in  their  idolatry  sought 
for  some  great  thought  that  would  lead  them  to 
the  recognition  of  a  higher  truth. 

Corinth  formed,  in  almost  every  respect,  a  sharp 
contrast  to  Athens.  It  was  a  port  lying  on  the 
highway  between  the  East  and  West,  the  resort  of 
sailors,  who  have  always  been  noted  the  world  over 
for  their  bad  morals.  It  was  one  of  the  great  mar- 
kets of  the  world,  and  hence  the  resort  of  mer- 
chants from  every  part  of  the  Empire.  It  has 
always  been  observed  that  the  majority  of  travel- 
ers leave  their  character  at  home,  and  lead  while 
among  strangei'S  a  free  and  easy  life.  Corinth 
abounded  in  temptations  of  every  kind.  Gambling 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  187 

was  carried  on  to  a  frightful  extent,  and  the  very 
name  of  Corinth  had  become  a  by-word  because  of 
the  evil  reputation  of  her  women.  There  was  here 
a  famous  temple  of  Aphrodite,  a  part  of  whose  wor- 
ship consisted  in  breaking  the  seventh  command- 
ment. And  here  were  hundreds  of  women  who 
passed  their  lives  in  the  temple  or  visited  it  regu- 
larly in  the  service  of  this  goddess.  It  was  proba- 
bly the  most  immoral  city  in  the  world. 

Here  Paul  made  the  acquaintance  of  two  persons 
who  were  to  be  of  the  greatest  service  and  comfort 
to  him.  Aquila  and  Priscilla  had  recently  come 
from  Rome,  in  consequence  of  the  action  of  the 
Emperor  Claudius,  who  forbade  the  Jews  to  hold 
their  meetings  in  Rome.  They  were  tent-makers, 
too,  and  by  means  of  their  common  occupation 
he  was  able  to  make  their  acquaintance  and  enter 
into  close  relations  with  them.  We  are  not  told 
whether  they  were  already  Christians,  or  not ;  at 
any  rate  they  were  soon  his  best  helpers.  It  is 
curious  to  note  that  at  first  the  name  of  Aquila 
precedes  that  of  his  wife,  but  soon  her  name  takes 
the  first  place,  from  which  it  has  been  inferred 
that  she  was  probably  the  abler  of  the  two,  and 
more  efficient  in  the  work.  They  remained  with 
Paul  throughout  his  whole  stay  of  eighteen  months 
in  Corinth,  went  with  him  to  Ephesus,  where  they 
took  a  house  and  made  it  the  centre  for  missionary 
operations,  making  it  the  place  of  meeting  for  all 
the  Christians  near  them,  thus  establishing  a 
"  church  in  their  house."  They  were  still  in 


188  HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHUECH. 

Ephesus  when  Paul  wrote  the  first  letter  to  the 
Corinthians,  and  he  could  write  to  their  former 
friends  and  acquaintance  in  Corinth,  "  Aquila  and 
Priscilla  send  you  their  very  best  greetings."  A 
year  or  two  later,  when  he  wrote  the  letter  to  the 
Romans,  they  had  returned  to  their  former  home 
in  Rome,  had  again  taken  a  house,  and  were  pur- 
suing the  same  course  as  in  Ephesus. 

In  Corinth,  as  has  been  said,  Paul  was  rejoined 
by  Timothy  and  Silas,  who  came  from  Macedonia 
bringing  good  news,  which  so  cheered  Paul  that  he 
began  to  prosecute  his  work  with  greater  energy 
and  enthusiasm.  From  here  he  wrote  the  two  let- 
ters to  the  Thessalonians,  which  have  already  been 
discussed. 

As  usually  happened,  only  some  of  the  Jews  be- 
lieved, and  the  opposition  became  so  great  that  he 
was  compelled  to  quit  visiting  the  synagogue  and 
to  open  another  place  of  worship  and  meeting  for 
the  Christians.  For  this  purpose  he  secured  the 
house  of  Titus  Justus,  who  either  was  a  proselyte, 
or  had  been  under  Jewish  instruction.  For  it  is 
said  that  he  was  "  one  who  worshiped  God."  Of 
all  these  eighteen  months  there  is  recorded  only 
one  event,  which  shows  how  very  sketchy  and  in- 
complete the  book  of  Acts  is  as  history.  Toward 
the  end  of  the  reign  of  Claudius,  Gallic  was  made 
proconsul  of  the  province  of  Achaia,  which  includes 
all  Greece.  This  must  have  been  in  the  year  53 
or  54.  Gallic  was  the  brother  of  the  famous  stoic 
philosopher  and  writer,  Seneca,  both  of  whom  were 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  189 

put  to  death  by  Nero.  He  was  himself  the  author 
of  several  plays  and  works  on  science.  He  was  a 
learned  man,  the  friend  and  companion  of  many  of 
the  greatest  literary  men  of  his  day.  He  was  noted, 
too,  for  his  mild  and  gentle  disposition.  Seneca, 
his  brother,  showed  his  love  for  him  by  dedicating 
some  of  his  works  to  him.1 

The  Jews  are  again  represented  as  the  cause  of 
the  trouble  and  opposition.  They  brought  Paul 
before  Gallic  with  the  charge  that  he  was  teaching 
men  to  worship  God  contrary  to  their  law.  They 
did  not  attempt  to  hide  the  real  nature  of  the 
charges  and  there  was  no  resort  to  any  political  ac- 
cusations. It  seems  strange  that  they  should  have 
made  purely  religious  charges  against  any  one  be- 
fore the  local  magistrates,  for  in  religious  matters 
the  Jewish  synagogues  are  supposed  everywhere  to 
have  had  independent  jurisdiction.  Gallic  looked 
upon  the  whole  matter  as  one  of  little  moment.  He 
was  angry  that  they  should  have  disturbed  him  and 
tried  to  make  him  the  judge  in  the  matter  of  their 

1  This  contact  of  Paul  with  Gallio  was  probably  in  part  the 
basis  of  the  famous  forgery  of  the  correspondence  of  Paul  and  Sen- 
eca. But  only  in  part,  for  the  Christians  of  the  third  and  fourth 
centuries,  like  some  of  a  much  later  day,  could  not  admit  that  the 
heathen  were  capable  of  producing  anything  good.  But  in  the 
writings  of  Seneca  they  found  much  that  agreed  with  the  best  Chris- 
tian principles.  The  only  way  to  solve  the  problem  was  to  declare 
that  Seneca  had  known  Paul  and  had  got  all  his  good  things  from 
him.  To  support  this,  these  letters  were  forged,  in  which  Paul  is 
made  to  impart  the  Christian  teachings  to  Seneca.  The  letters 
were  for  a  long  time  regarded  as  genuine,  but  they  are  undoubtedly 
a  forgery,  and  cannot  be  earlier  than  the  third  century. 


190    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

law.  It  was  only  a  Jewish  theological  quarrel  and 
they  might  settle  it  among  themselves.  He  was  will- 
ing to  act  as  judge  in  matters  which  involved  the 
principle  of  right  and  wrong,  but  in  their  wars  about 
words  he  would  take  no  part.  With  this  rebuke  he 
ordered  them  to  be  driven  from  his  presence.  But 
this  was  not  the  end  of  the  matter.  They  had  dug 
a  pit  for  another,  they  themselves  were  yet  to  fall 
into  it.  Their  turbulence  and  troublesomeness  had 
made  even  the  mild  Gallic  impatient  and  indif- 
ferent, and  the  fickle  mob  took  advantage  of  the 
opportunity  to  vent  their  dislike  upon  them.  They 
laid  hold  of  Sosthenes,  who  had  been  made  ruler  of 
the  synagogue  in  place  of  Crispus  who  had  be- 
come a  Christian,  and  gave  him  a  sound  beating. 
It  seems  to  have  had  a  good  effect  on  him,  for  later 
we  find  that  he  had  become  a  Christian  and  was  in 
Ephesus  with  Paul  when  he  wrote  the  first  letter  to 
the  Corinthians. 

For  a  year  and  a  half  Paul  remained  in  Corinth. 
Whether  he  was  in  the  city  all  the  time  or  not  it 
is  impossible  to  say.  But  Christianity  certainly 
spread  beyond  the  limits  of  the  city,  for  the  second 
letter  is  addressed  not  only  to  the  "  church  of  God 
which  is  at  Corinth,"  but  also  to  "  all  the  saints 
which  are  in  the  whole  of  Achaia."  At  length  the 
time  came  for  a  change  of  residence.  He  evidently 
thought  that  Christianity  was  firmly  established  in 
Corinth,  so  he  and  Aquila  and  Priscilla  sailed  away 
to  Asia,  intending  to  establish  themselves  there. 
In  regard  to  the  vow  which  is  spoken  of,  only  two 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  191 

things  are  clear ;  first,  that  there  was  a  vow,  and 
second,  that  it  was  fulfilled  at  Corinth.  But  it  is 
by  no  means  clear  who  had  made  the  vow,  or  what 
its  purport  was.  From  the  Greek  it  is  impossible 
to  say  to  whom  it  refers.  It  may  have  been  either 
Aquila  or  Paul,  though  one  has  the  impression  that 
the  author  had  Paul  in  mind.  It  was  not  a  Naz- 
arite  vow,  but  Paul,  if  it  was  he,  had  vowed  that 
he  would  accomplish  a  certain  thing,  and  as  a  sign 
of  the  vow  until  it  was  accomplished  he  would  not 
allow  his  hair  to  be  cut ;  for  that  was  the  ordinary 
form  of  such  vows,  which  were  by  no  means  uncom- 
mon. 

They  landed  at  Ephesus,  where  Aquila  and  Pris- 
cilla  remained,  but  Paul  is  said  to  have  gone  on  to 
Caesarea,  and  from  there  he  "  went  up,"  that  is,  to 
Jerusalem,  and  after  saluting  the  church  there  re- 
turned to  Antioch.  Here  he  remained  only  a  short 
time  and  then  set  out  through  Asia  Minor,  passing 
through  Galatia  and  Phrygia  to  Ephesus,  where 
he  had  long  desired  to  establish  Christianity.  This 
is  the  beginning  of  what  is  commonly  called  the 
third  missionary  journey,  but  it  was  rather  simply 
a  change  of  residence  from  Corinth  to  Ephesus, 
which  now  became  his  headquarters.  Ephesus 
(since  133  B.  c.,  when  the  Pergamenian  kingdom 
passed  into  the  hands  of  Rome)  was  the  capital  of 
the  province  of  Asia,  which  consisted  of  Mysia,  Ly- 
dia  and  Caria.  Paul  had  an  eye  for  the  strategic 
points.  Ephesus  was  a  large  and  beautiful  city, 
exceedingly  rich,  for  her  commerce  was  even  greater 


192    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHUKCH. 

than  that  of  Corinth.  She  had  almost  all  the 
advantages  of  a  port  town,  although  she  was  not 
directly  on  the  sea.  And  she  was  the  terminus  of 
the  great  caravan  route  through  Asia  Minor  to  the 
East.  Fine  roads  led  to  the  interior  of  the  country 
and  gave  excellent  facilities  for  travel.  She  was 
in  touch  with  both  Europe  and  Asia,  and  from  here 
Paul  had  a  wide  horizon,  for  he  could  be  constantly 
in  contact  with  people  from  all  quarters  of  the  Em- 
pire. Christianity  was  sure  to  spread  along  the 
lines  of  travel.  Here  was  the  seat  of  the  worship 
of  Artemis  (or  Diana,  as  it  is  improperly  translated 
in  both  the  authorized  and  revised  versions)  whose 
temple  was  one  of  the  seven  wonders  of  the  world. 
Paul  certainly  reached  Ephesus  in  the  year  54, 
but  in  the  mean  time  a  new  apostle  had  appeared 
on  the  scene.  Apollos  had  come  from  Alexandria 
to  Ephesus.  It  is  said  that  he  was  a  learned  man 
and  mighty  in  the  Scriptures,  which  means  that  he 
was  trained  in  the  allegorical  method  of  interpreta- 
tion and  was  very  skillful  in  it.  The  church  at 
Alexandria,  which  afterwards  played  such  a  promi- 
nent part  in  the  history  of  the  church  and  in  the 
development  of  doctrine,  is  in  the  deepest  obscurity 
until  toward  the  end  of  the  second  century.  This 
is  one  of  the  obscure  notices  from  which  we  get  all 
the  knowledge  we  have  of  it,  until  suddenly  at  the 
end  of  the  second  century  it  springs  into  full  view 
as  the  seat  of  a  famous  Christian  catechetical 
school,  with  able  teachers  and  a  large  and  flourish- 
ing congregation.  Now  we  learn  that  Apollos  was 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  193 

engaged  in  preaching  the  gospel  of  Jesus.  "  He 
had  been  instructed  in  the  way  of  the  Lord,"  and 
he  spoke  and  taught  carefully  and  with  great  zeal 
the  things  concerning  Jesus.  That  can  only  mean 
that  he  was  a  Christian,  and  that  like  Paul  he  was 
a  traveling  missionary.  But  the  strange  thing  is 
that  he  knew  nothing  about  a  form  of  Christian 
baptism.  He  practiced  baptism  to  be  sure,  but  it 
wao  the  baptism  of  John,  that  is,  a  baptism  as  the 
symbol  of  repentance  and  not  in  the  name  of  Jesus. 
Here  then  we  learn  of  two  things  that  are  both  in- 
teresting and  strange.  The  first  is  that  the  move- 
ment begun  by  John  the  Baptist  had  spread  beyond 
the  boundaries  of  Palestine.  It  had  even  reached 
Alexandria,  where  Apollos  had  learned  of  it  and 
adopted  it.  The  other  is  that  there  were  Chris- 
tians who  did  not  practice  baptism  in  the  name  of 
Jesus,  but  had  an  entirely  different  form.  The 
same  thing  is  to  be  observed  in  regard  to  the  "  cer- 
tain disciples  "  spoken  of  in  Acts  xix.  1.  They  were 
Christians,  but  knew  nothing  of  a  form  of  Christian 
baptism.  How  such  a  state  of  affairs  was  possible 
it  is  difficult  to  say,  but  the  fact  cannot  be  ques- 
tioned. How  widely  this  type  of  Christianity  with- 
out Christian  baptism  was  spread,  and  how  long  it 
lasted,  we  cannot  say,  but  the  fact  that  it  was  in 
cities  so  widely  separated  as  Alexandria  and  Ephe- 
sus,  and  that  too  nearly  thirty  years  after  the  death 
of  Christ,  shows  that  there  must  have  been  many 
who  either  did  not  know  of  Christian  baptism  or 
did  not  regard  it  as  essential,  and  that  there  must 


194    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

have  been  an  extensive  propagation  of  Christianity 
without  a  Christian  form  of  baptism. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  Christianity,  al- 
though of  this  peculiar  form,  was  thus  early  in 
Alexandria.  Apollos  was  further  instructed  by 
Aquila  and  Priscilla,  and,  as  he  desired  to  pass 
over  to  Europe,  took  letters  of  introduction  to  the 
Christians  at  Corinth.  It  would  seem  that  after 
Paul's  departure  from  Corinth  the  Jews  had  been 
having  the  best  of  it  in  the  many  disputations 
which  they  had  with  the  Christians.  For  inter- 
course was  not  wholly  broken  off  between  the 
Christians  and  the  Jews,  but  they  undoubtedly 
continued  their  discussions  and  arguments.  But 
they  were  no  match  for  Apollos,  who  was  trained 
in  the  Alexandrian  school  of  logic,  philosophy, 
and  exegesis,  and  knew  the  Scriptures  thoroughly 
and  was  master  of  all  the  arts  which  are  so  neces- 
sary to  the  debater. 

In  Ephesus  Paul  again  began  with  the  Jews. 
Although  there  were  Christians  already  there,  yet 
they  had  not  separated  from  the  Jews,  but  were 
still  attending  the  synagogue ;  they  seem  not  to 
have  had  a  separate  place  of  worship.  Paul  con- 
tinued this  for  three  months,  laboring  to  persuade 
the  Jews  of  the  Messiahship  of  Jesus,  but  at  last 
the  opposition  was  so  great  and  violent  that  he  had 
to  withdraw  from  them.  The  school  of  Tyrannus 
was  probably  a  building  much  like  our  "  town 
halls,"  which  was  for  rent  and  was  used  by  the 
traveling  philosophers,  rhetoricians,  teachers,  and 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  195 

all  such  who  wished  to  meet  the  public.  Paul 
now  rented  this  hall  and  made  it  the  regular  place 
of  meeting  for  the  Christians  and  the  centre  of 
his  missionary  work.  Here  for  three  years  (xx. 
31)  he  continued  to  teach  and  preach  the  gospel, 
extending  his  influence  through  his  disciples  and 
helpers  until,  as  it  is  said,  "All  them  that  dwelt 
in  Asia  heard  the  word  of  the  Lord,  both  Jews  and 
Greeks."  In  these  few  years  he  laid  the  founda- 
tion of  the  future  greatness  of  the  church  in  Asia 
Minor.  All  the  west  part  of  the  country  must 
have  been  evangelized.  There  were  many  cities 
there,  and  undoubtedly  the  beginning  of  their 
churches  falls  in  this  period.  In  the  next  century 
Asia  Minor  is  the  stronghold  of  Christianity  ;  the 
heathen  temples  were  deserted,  the  animals  of 
sacrifice  remained  unsold,  and  it  seemed  that  all 
the  people  were  turned  Christian.  That  such  pro- 
gress was  possible  was  due  to  the  labors  of  Paul 
and  his  companions,  with  Ephesus  for  their  head- 
quarters. 

The  immediate  success  in  Ephesus  was  very 
great.  Many  from  all  classes  believed ;  even 
many  of  the  religious  mountebanks  and  swindlers 
were  converted  and  gave  up  the  practice  of  their 
deceptive  arts.  The  Asiarchs,  or  as  it  is  trans- 
lated, "  the  chief  officers  of  Asia  "  (xix.  31),  were 
what  we  would  call  a  standing  committee  that  had 
charge  of  the  temples,  the  sacrifices,  the  public 
games,  and  the  great  celebrations  which  frequently 
took  place.  They  had  to  provide  for  all  such 


196    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

events,  make  the  necessary  arrangements  and  prq- 
side  over  them,  and  so  were  in  the  very  midst  of 
the  idolatrous  life  and  practices  of  the  people. 
And  yet  Paul  had  made  friends,  and  we  may  cer- 
tainly conclude  disciples,  among  even  these. 

In  these  three  years  Christianity  made  great 
inroads  on  the  heathenism  of  the  city.  So  great 
were  the  numbers  of  its  adherents,  that  toward 
the  end  of  his  stay  here  the  trade  in  images  of 
the  goddess  and  her  temple  was  so  diminished 
that  the  workmen  were  losing  their  employment ; 
there  was  so  little  demand  for  these  objects.  This 
led  to  a  great  demonstration  on  the  part  of  the 
workmen  against  Paul.  The  account  which  we 
have  of  it  is  unfortunately  very  brief,  but  very 
lifelike.  This  Demetrius  was  a  silversmith  and 
the  head  of  a  firm  which  manufactured  images  of 
the  goddess.  We  are  accustomed  to  think  of  labor 
unions,  and  Knights  of  Labor,  and  all  similar 
organizations  as  something  quite  modern,  but  they 
were  just  as  frequent  and  prominent  at  that  time 
in  Asia  Minor  as  to-day  in  America.  The  work- 
men of  every  particular  craft  formed  a  guild  or 
labor  union,  and  these  numerous  unions  were 
united  into  a  great  organization.  At  the  head  of 
this  was  this  Demetrius,  who  therefore  occupied 
much  the  same  position  as  the  president  of  the 
Knights  of  Labor  to-day.  A  great  mass  meeting 
of  the  "  workmen  of  like  occupation "  was  held, 
which  was  addressed  by  him.  That  is,  it  was  a 
meeting  of  all  those  who  were  engaged  in  the 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  197 

manufacture  of  all  those  little  statues  which  were 
so  common  in  antiquity.  They  were  made  of 
gold,  silver,  bronze,  and  baser  metals,  often  of 
clay,  and  the  makers  of  all  these  are  included 
under  the  "  workmen  of  like  occupation." 

The  excavations  of  Mr.  Wood  have  brought  to 
light  a  great  many  inscriptions  and  much  material 
which  throw  light  on  this  account  in  the  Acts,  and 
show  that  the  author  was  well  informed  about 
various  peculiar  local  customs  which  differed  from 
those  of  other  Greek  cities.  They  show,  too, 
what  this  chapter  in  the  Acts  also  shows,  that  the 
temple  and  worship  of  Artemis,  and  the  many  in- 
terests connected  therewith,  dominated  the  life 
and  thought  of  the  whole  city.  In  the  inscrip- 
tions Artemis  is  called  "the  great  goddess,"  and 
"  the  greatest  goddess "  (see  Acts  xix.  27).  It 
is  said  in  the  twenty -ninth  verse  that  "they 
rushed  with  one  accord  into  the  theatre,"  which 
seems  strange,  for  in  the  Greek  cities  all  public 
meetings  were  generally  held  in  the  market-place. 
But  the  inscriptions  show  that  in  Ephesus  the 
great  theatre  was  the  place  where  all  such  meet- 
ings were  held.  The  town  clerk  also  is  mentioned 
in  the  inscriptions,  and  it  is  clear  that  he  was  the 
keeper  of  the  records  of  the  city ;  it  was  his  duty 
to  see  that  the  laws  and  edicts  were  inscribed  on 
the  walls  or  set  up  in  a  prominent  place  in  the  the- 
atre. In  verse  thirty-nine  mention  is  made  of  the 
"regular  assembly,"  and  the  inscriptions  show  that 
this  was  the  technical  name  of  the  mass  meeting 


198   HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHUECH. 

of  the  citizens  which  they  held  a  certain  number 
of  times  a  year  for  the  purpose  of  transacting  busi- 
ness of  various  kinds  ;  for  the  city  was  democratic 
in  its  form  of  government.  On  the  walls  of  the 
very  theatre  in  which  this  mass  meeting  was  held 
was  an  inscription  which  defined  robbery  of  the 
temple  and  various  other  acts  as  sacrilegious,  and 
the  town  clerk  could  easily  point  to  that  and  say, 
"  These  men  are  not  guilty  of  sacrilege,  they  have 
never  robbed  the  temple  or  blasphemed  our  god- 
dess." Ephesus  is  also  called  "  temple  keeper  of 
the  great  Artemis  which  fell  down  from  heaven." 
"  Temple  keeper,"  we  learn,  was  a  title  of  honor, 
which  might  be  assumed  by  any  city  that  should 
build  and  support  a  temple  for  the  worship  of  any 
particular  god.  So  that  Ephesus,  since  she  had 
built  the  temple  to  Artemis,  bore  the  honorary  title 
of  "temple  keeper  to  the  great  Artemis."  And 
in  this  temple,  we  know  from  other  sources,  was  a 
very  ancient  statue  representing  the  goddess,  which 
was  confidently  believed  to  have  fallen  from 
heaven. 

Our  author  has  given  us  a  good  glimpse  of  the 
mob  as  the  workmen  were  joined  by  the  idlers  on 
the  street,  all  of  whom  caught  up  the  cry,  "  Great 
is  Artemis  of  the  Ephesians."  They  all  rushed 
into  the  theatre,  but  very  few  of  them  knew  why 
they  were  shouting  or  what  the  cause  of  the  demon- 
stration was.  It  is  a  picture  from  life  of  a  riotous 
crowd  bent  on  mischief,  without  knowing  why  or 
to  what  purpose.  The  officials  of  the  city  were 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  199 

anxious  to  prevent  any  violence  and  to  quiet  the 
mob,  for  the  city  would  be  in  danger  of  the  charge 
of  riot  and  illegal  public  meetings,  and  so  might 
be  deprived  of  some  of  her  privileges  or  compelled 
to  pay  a  heavy  fine. 

These  three  years  at  Ephesus  were  the  most 
difficult  and  distressing  of  all  Paul's  life.  They 
were  far  worse  than  the  years  of  his  imprison- 
ment, galling  as  they  must  have  been  to  his  rest- 
less spirit.  He  recognized  the  great  opportunities 
that  Ephesus  offered  for  missionary  work,  for  he 
wrote  to  the  Corinthians,  "  But  I  will  tarry  at 
Ephesus  until  Pentecost,  for  a  great  door  and 
effectual  is  opened  unto  me,"  but  he  adds  with 
great  significance,  "  and  there  are  many  adver- 
saries "  (1  Cor.  xvi.  9).  His  recollections  of  this 
have  colored  his  words  to  the  principal  members 
of  the  church  at  Ephesus  when  he  called  them  to 
come  to  Miletus  to  see  him.  He  remembered  it 
as  a  time  of  tears  and  of  trials  by  the  plots  of 
the  Jews.  To  this  also  refer  the  words  in  2  Cor. 
i.  8—10 :  "  For  we  would  not  have  you  ignorant, 
brethren,  concerning  our  affliction  which  befell  us 
in  Asia,  that  we  were  weighed  down  exceedingly, 
beyond  our  power,  insomuch  that  we  despaired 
even  of  life :  yea,  we  ourselves  have  had  the  an- 
swer of  death  within  ourselves,  that  we  should  not 
trust  in  ourselves,  but  in  God  which  raiseth  the 
dead  :  who  delivered  us  out  of  so  great  a  death, 
and  will  deliver  :  on  whom  we  have  set  our  hope 
that  he  will  also  still  deliver  us."  These  words 


200    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

can  have  no  other  meaning  than  that  in  some  way 
Paul  had  been  brought  face  to  face  with  a  violent 
death  from  which  he  barely  escaped.  His  death 
had  seemed  so  certain  that  his  escape  seemed 
almost  miraculous,  and  he  attributed  it  to  God. 
The  sentence  of  death  had  been  passed  upon  him, 
but  God  had  delivered  him.  In  Rom.  xvi.  3-4 
we  have  another  of  these  mysterious  references 
to  some  danger  of  death  that  had  threatened  to 
overtake  him,  but  from  which  he  had  been  deliv- 
ered by  the  heroic  action  of  Priscilla  and  Aquila, 
who  had  themselves  risked  their  lives  on  his  behalf. 
"  Salute  Priscilla  and  Aquila,  my  fellow-workers 
in  Christ  Jesus,  who  for  my  life  laid  down  their 
own  necks  ;  unto  whom  not  only  I  give  thanks, 
but  also  all  the  churches  of  the  Gentiles." 

But  we  have  a  more  explicit  reference  to  one 
of  the  dangers  that  had  befallen  him.  In  1  Cor. 
xv.  32  he  says,  "  If  after  the  manner  of  men  I  have 
fought  with  wild  beasts  at  Ephesus,  what  doth  it 
profit  me?"  This  is  not  a  mere  figure  of  speech, 
as  some  have  supposed  ;  not  at  all.  It  means  that 
Paul  had  actually  been  condemned  to  be  thrown 
to  the  wild  beasts  in  the  amphitheatre.  That  was 
a  common  form  of  punishment,  but  not  all  who 
were  thrown  to  the  beasts  were  killed.  It  some- 
times happened  that  they  succeeded  in  killing  the 
beast,  and  so  they  themselves  escaped.  Of  course 
we  cannot  follow  this  out  in  the  case  of  Paul,  for 
unfortunately  we  know  nothing  of  the  details,  but 
there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  this  was  a 


THE  BEST  YEAES  OF  PAUL.  201 

part  of  his  terrible  experiences  in  these  three  years. 
It  is  interesting  to  note  too  that  the  second  letter 
to  the  Corinthians,  which  was  written  just  after  the 
close  of  this  period,  is  full  of  reminiscences  of  his 
sufferings.  Read  chapters  iv.,  vi.,  and  x.  of  this 
letter  and  see  what  his  condition  must  have  been. 
The  life  and  death  struggle  in  which  he  had  been 
so  long  engaged  had  made  an  indelible  impression 
on  his  mind,  which  is  apparent  in  the  whole  epistle. 
His  troubles  still  lay  on  him  like  a  burden  that 
oppressed  and  disquieted  him. 

His  opponents  were  of  three  classes,  the  hea- 
then, the  Jews,  and  the  Judaizers.  We  cannot 
follow  them  in  all  their  machinations  and  violence, 
but  we  have  seen  how  his  life  was  endangered  by 
the  demonstration  undor  Demetrius.  The  Jews 
were  also  assisting  in  this,  for  we  find  them  put- 
ting forward  Alexander  to  attack  Paul  and  further 
increase  the  blind  hatred  of  the  populace.  These 
facts,  taken  together  with  those  above  mentioned, 
the  many  adversaries,  the  sentence  of  death  that 
had  been  passed  upon  him,  the  trials  with  the 
plots  of  the  Jews,  the  circumstances  that  required 
Aquila  and  Priscilla  to  risk  their  lives  for  him, 
and  his  fighting  with  wild  beasts,  —  what  more  is 
required  to  show  that  these  three  years  were  full 
of  dangers  and  trials  that  would  have  conquered 
many  another  heart,  however  brave.  What  a  light 
they  throw  on  the  zeal  and  devotion  of  Paul !  The 
facts  merely  are  given,  leaving  the  imagination  to 
supply  the  details. 


202    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

But  the  Judaizers  caused  him  even  more  an- 
guish of  heart,  for  they  were  endeavoring  to  de- 
stroy his  life  work,  and  more  than  once  it  seemed 
that  they  would  succeed.  They  had  before  this 
begun  to  make  systematic  efforts  to  alienate  the 
affections  of  his  congregations  from  him.  They 
sent  out  their  missionaries  everywhere  on  his 
track,  sowing  slanders  of  many  kinds  against  him, 
and  preaching  another  gospel ;  that  is,  they  told 
his  converts  that  they  were  not  perfect  Christians 
and  that  they  could  not  hope  to  become  partakers 
of  the  Messiah's  kingdom  until  they  had  outwardly 
become  Jews  and  observed  the  law  of  Moses. 
Everywhere  they  stirred  up  commotions,  and 
threw  the  Gentile  Christians  into  great  perplexity, 
doubt,  and  distress  of  mind.  Their  arguments 
were  plausible,  their  zeal  great,  and  often  they 
found  ready  credence.  Where  their  success  was 
not  immediate  they  continued  their  efforts  with 
such  persistency,  and  were  so  shrewd  in  their 
arguments,  and  especially  in  the  charges  which 
they  made  against  Paul,  that  in  the  end  they  were 
sure  to  prevail.  And  Paul  found  his  congrega- 
tions on  all  hands  slowly  deserting  him  and  giv- 
ing up  his  gospel  of  the  freedom  of  salvation  and 
of  the  right  to  the  Messiah's  kingdom  through 
faith,  and  accepting  the  law  of  Moses,  hoping  by 
these  observances  to  have  a  right  to  eternal  life. 

So  that  during  these  years  he  had  to  fight  not 
only  for  his  life  against  the  heathen  and  Jews,  but 
also  for  the  life  of  his  congregations  and  for  the 


THE  BEST  YEABS  OF  PAUL.  203 

existence  and  preservation  of  his  gospel.  It  is 
always  sad  when  a  man,  who  has  spent  the  best 
years  of  his  life  in  some  great  work  and  has  seen 
his  efforts  crowned  with  success,  is  suddenly  made 
aware  that  all  his  work  is  about  to  be  undone, 
and  is  compelled  to  begin  again,  and,  as  it  were,  do 
the  whole  work  over.  The  anxiety  and  anguish 
of  mind  are  always  touching  in  the  extreme.  How 
much  more  is  this  true  of  Paul,  who  saw  his  con- 
gregations falling  away  from  him,  his  free  gospel, 
his  religion  of  the  heart,  displaced  by  the  round 
of  legal  observances,  and  his  own  character  tra- 
duced and  all  manner  of  false  charges  heaped 
upon  him.  He  himself  has  given  expression  to 
the  torture  and  distress  of  soul  which  he  felt 
under  the  figure  which  to  the  ancients  was  the 
most  expressive  of  pain ;  "  My  little  children,  of 
whom  I  am  again  in  travail  until  Christ  be  formed 
in  you."  The  struggle  was  a  bitter  one,  and  often 
Paul  did  not  know  on  whose  side  the  victory  would 
be.  It  weighed  upon  him  even  more  than  the 
dangers  that  surrounded  his  person.  For  after 
speaking  of  the  hardships  which  he  had  had  to 
endure,  the  beatings  and  stonings,  the  shipwrecks, 
the  fatiguing  journeys,  and  the  ever-present  perils, 
he  adds,  "  Beside  those  things  that  are  without, 
there  is  that  which  presseth  upon  me  daily,  anx- 
iety for  all  the  churches"  This  is  wrung  from 
him ;  it  comes  like  a  sob  of  pain  from  the  depths 
of  his  heart.  The  perils,  the  physical  dangers,  that 
dogged  his  footsteps  were  as  nothing  compared 


204    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

with  tlie  anxiety  of  his  soul  as  he  saw  the  results 
of  his  years  of  labor  about  to  be  destroyed. 

On  his  way  to  Ephesus  in  the  year  54  he  had 
passed  through  Galatia  and  even  then  had  seen 
signs  of  the  coming  storm,  and  had  warned  the  Ga- 
latians  that  those  who  received  circumcision,  hoping 
thereby  to  receive  some  spiritual  advantage,  were 
in  reality  bound  to  observe  the  whole  Mosaic  law ; 
and  he  further  pronounced  a  curse  on  all  who 
should  preach  to  them  a  gospel  that  differed  from 
his  own.  But  this  had  not  had  the  desired  effect, 
for  soon  after  reaching  Ephesus  he  heard  that  the 
Judaizers  had  been  at  least  in  part  successful. 
Some  of  the  Galatians  had  been  persuaded  by 
them  to  receive  circumcision  and  were  beginning 
to  observe  some  of  the  Jewish  feasts,  regarding 
certain  days  and  seasons  as  particularly  holy,  and 
thinking  that  they  were  pleasing  God  by  such  ex- 
ternal observances.  The  Judaizers  had  made 
them  believe  that  in  order  to  become  Christians 
they  must  first  become  Jews  and  accept  at  least 
a  part  of  the  Mosaic  and  levitical  regulations  as 
binding.  They  had  further  attempted  to  fortify 
their  position  by  attacking  Paul.  For  if  they 
could  succeed  in  discrediting  him,  it  would  of 
course  be  much  easier  to  persuade  his  converts 
that  his  gospel  was  insufficient. 

The  charges  were  as  follows :  they  declared  that 
Paul  was  not  on  an  equality  with  the  other  apos- 
tles, for  he  had  not  seen  Jesus  and  had  never  re- 
ceived a  commission  from  him  to  preach  his  gos- 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  205 

pel  as  the  others  had.  His  authority  then  was  not 
equal  to  that  of  the  Twelve,  for  they  had  theirs  di- 
rectly from  Jesus.  If  Paul  had  any  right  at  all 
to  preach,  he  must  have  got  it  from  some  man  or 
men.  He  was  not  an  independent  apostle ;  he  had 
received  all  his  knowledge  of  the  Messiah  and  of 
his  gospel  from  others.  Since  he  is  inferior  in  au- 
thority to  the  Twelve,  in  every  question  in  which 
they  differ  they  are  to  be  accepted  as  supreme. 
What  Paul  says  is  to  be  corrected  by  what  they 
say.  Further,  although  he  had  got  his  gospel  from 
them  it  was  said  that  he  had  not  preserved  it  in 
purity.  He  was  no  longer  preaching  the  pure  gos- 
pel as  the  others  were,  but  he  had  corrupted  it. 
He  was  no  longer  preaching  the  truth,  but  had 
changed  it  that  he  might  please  men.  He  was  a 
coward  and  was  not  preaching  for  the  truth's  sake, 
but  was  using  any  means  that  seemed  to  promise 
success.  Besides,  he  was  covetous  of  fame  and 
wealth,  and  was  using  his  congregations  to  become 
famous  and  rich.  It  was  a  bitter  attack  on  his 
apostleship,  his  gospel,  and  his  character. 

So  he  wrote  his  answer,  his  letter  to  the  Gala- 
tians,  —  one  of  those  fiery,  indignant  letters  which 
must  have  made  the  Galatians  wince  more  than 
once  as  they  read  it.  He  first  takes  up  the  ques- 
tion of  his  apostleship.  He  declares  that  he  is  an 
independent  apostle  and  the  equal  of  any,  for  he 
had  his  apostleship,  not  from  men  nor  through  any 
man,  but  directly  from  God  through  Jesus  Christ. 
And  for  his  gospel  he  was  not  indebted  to  any 


206    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

man,  for  no  man  taught  it  to  him,  or  was  in  any 
way  instrumental  in  giving  it  to  him.  But  when 
Jesus  had  been  revealed  to  him  as  the  Messiah,  it 
had  all  been  made  plain  to  him.  He  then  reminds 
the  Galatians  that  he  had  been  so  zealous  for  the 
law  that  he  had  most  bitterly  persecuted  the  Chris- 
tians. But  when  it  had  pleased  God  to  reveal  his 
Son  in  him,  to  make  known  to  him  Jesus  as  the 
Messiah,  he  had  at  the  same  time  been  called  to 
preach  his  gospel  to  the  Gentiles.  And  immedi- 
ately he  had  begun  this.  Without  conferring  with 
flesh  and  blood,  without  going  up  to  Jerusalem  to 
get  the  consent  of  the  apostles,  he  went  away  to 
Arabia  and  at  once  entered  upon  the  work  to  which 
he  was  called.  So  far  from  being  dependent  on  the 
Twelve  for  his  call  to  the  apostleship  and  for  his 
gospel  and  for  the  right  to  preach  to  the  Gentiles, 
he  had  actually  been  for  three  years  engaged  in 
this  before  he  even  so  much  as  saw  one  of  the 
Twelve.  It  is  clear  from  this  that  Paul  must  have 
been  at  work  before  he  saw  Peter,  or  his  argument 
is  worth  nothing  at  all.  If  he  had  been  simply 
meditating  these  three  years  in  Arabia,  if  he  had 
not  been  engaged  in  mission  work,  his  opponents 
could  easily  overcome  all  he  might  say  by  simply 
calling  attention  to  the  fact  that  although  he  might 
claim  to  have  been  called  by  Christ,  yet  he  did  not 
begin  his  work  until  he  had  gone  to  Jerusalem  to 
see  Peter  and  get  his  permission  to  serve  as  a  mis- 
sionary. But  that  cannot  be,  for  he  proves  the 
independence  of  his  apostleship  and  of  his  gospel 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  207 

by  saying  that  he  began  work  at  once,  and  had 
been  three  years  in  the  field  before  he  made  the 
acquaintance  of  one  of  the  Twelve.  Besides,  he 
had  been  with  Peter  only  two  weeks,  and  had  seen 
no  other  apostle,  but  admits  that  he  had  seen  James. 
From  Jerusalem  he  went  away  into  the  regions  of 
Syria  and  Cilicia,  continuing  his  work,  and  re- 
mained unknown  to  the  churches  of  Judaea  and 
the  other  apostles  until  fourteen  years  after,  when 
he  went  up  to  lay  before  them  his  gospel  and  his 
work. 

With  this  he  turns  to  another  point.  The  inde- 
pendence of  his  apostleship  and  of  his  gospel  is 
proved,  but  he  must  now  show  that  the  Twelve,  or 
at  least  the  representatives  of  the  church  at  Jeru- 
salem, have  recognized  him  as  their  equal,  that  he 
had  been  intrusted  with  the  gospel  to  the  Gentiles, 
and  that  he  was  preaching  a  genuine  gospel.  So 
he  refers  to  the  conference  which  he  had  had  with 
them  about  four  or  five  years  before.  He  and 
Barnabas  had  gone  up  to  Jerusalem,  taking  with 
them  Titus,  who  was  a  Greek.  And  he  had  laid 
before  them  his  gospel,  and  showed  them  Titus  as 
a  sample  of  its  fruits  among  the  Gentiles.  And 
although  some  of  the  Judaizers  demanded  that 
Titus  be  circumcised,  regarding  him  with  abhor- 
rence since  he  was  levitically  unclean,  yet  Paul 
had  resisted  them  and  successfully  opposed  their 
demands,  so  that  the  apostles  had  not  required  his 
circumcision.  They  also  made  no  addition  to  Paul's 
gospel ;  "  they  imparted  nothing  "  to  him,  but  they 


208    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHUECH. 

recognized  that  he  was  doing  the  Lord's  work,  for 
the  Lord  was  with  him.  And  since  they  saw  that 
the  grace  of  the  Lord  had  been  given  him,  they 
also  strove  against  him  no  further,  but  gave  him 
the  right  hand  of  fellowship.  They  stipulated, 
however,  that  he  should  go  only  to  the  Gentiles 
with  his  gospel,  while  they  should  continue  with 
their  gospel  to  the  Jews.  They  made  only  one 
further  request,  namely,  that  Paul  should  remem- 
ber the  poor  in  Jerusalem. 

But  Paul  has  a  still  more  convincing  argument 
in  the  conduct  of  Peter  at  Antioch.  For  he  had 
come  down  to  Antioch  and  was  so  thoroughly 
agreed  with  Paul  in  all  these  things,  that  he  asso- 
ciated freely  with  the  uncircumcised  Gentile  Chris- 
tians without  any  regard  to  the  levitical  law,  thus 
by  his  conduct  admitting  that  it  was  worthless, 
that  it  was  no  longer  binding  on  either  Jews  or 
Gentiles  and  that  its  observance  was  a  matter  of 
entire  indifference.  He  thus  showed  that  there 
was  complete  agreement  between  himself  and  Paul. 
But  here  Paul  tacitly  admits  that  James  did  not 
agree  with  him,  for  he  says  that  after  "  certain 
came  from  James,"  Peter,  fearing  the  displeasure 
of  James  and  the  opposition  of  the  Jewish  Chris- 
tians at  Jerusalem,  drew  back  from  associating 
with  the  Gentiles.  He  feared  to  lose  caste  in  Jeru- 
salem, for  he  remembered  that  they  had  opposed 
him  before  when  he  had  preached  the  gospel  to 
Cornelius.  But  Paul  publicly  rebuked  him,  accus- 
ing him  of  hypocrisy  because  he  knew  that  the  law 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  209 

was  not  binding,  and  yet  in  order  to  have  a  good 
name  with  the  Jewish  party  at  Jerusalem  he  had 
acted  contrary  to  his  better  knowledge  and  judg- 
ment. 

With  the  third  chapter  he  begins  to  discuss  the 
relation  existing  between  the  law  and  the  gospel. 
Abraham  received  the  blessing  simply  because  he 
believed  God.  The  promise  was  made  to  him,  not 
because  he  was  keeping  the  law,  but  because  he 
believed  what  God  said  to  him.  The  great  inheri- 
tance was  promised  him  on  this  condition,  and 
hence  was  for  all  who,  like  him,  believed  God. 
This  promise  God  had  confirmed  by  an  oath.  But 
four  hundred  and  thirty  years  afterward  God  gave 
the  law  too  to  his  descendants,  but  this  could  not 
annul  the  promise.  For  the  inheritance  had  been 
made  dependent  simply  on  faith,  and  hence  it  could 
not  now  be  made  dependent  on  the  observance  of 
the  law.  The  law  had  a  different  purpose,  namely, 
to  act  as  our  tutor,  to  show  us  what  sin  is  and 
lead  us  to  Christ.  But  now  that  Christ  is  come  we 
are  no  longer  under  this  tutor,  for  Christ  has  re- 
vealed God  as  our  Father,  and  through  him  we 
have  received  the  adoption  of  sons,  so  that  we  are 
no  longer  bond-servants  under  the  law  but  free  sons 
of  God. 

But  it  by  no  means  follows  from  the  abolition  of 
the  law  that  we  may  indulge  in  sin.  We  are  in- 
deed free,  but  not  free  to  sin,  for  a  new  principle 
of  life  has  been  implanted  in  us.  We  belong  to 
God  through  Christ,  and  as  his  sons  we  must  imi- 


210    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

tate  Him.  We  must  walk  in  his  spirit,  and  be- 
come like  Him  in  character.  If  we  have  the  spirit 
of  Christ  we  must  produce  the  same  fruits  in  our 
lives  which  he  produced  in  his.  "  For  the  fruit 
of  the  Spirit  is  love,  joy,  peace,  long-suffering, 
kindness,  goodness,  faithfulness,  meekness,  temper- 
ance ;  against  such  there  is  no  law." 

With  the  eleventh  verse  of  the  last  chapter  Paul 
begins  to  write  the  salutation  with  his  own  hand, 
for  up  to  this  point  he  has  dictated  and  another 
has  written.  He  tells  them  that  these  Judaizers 
have  a  special,  selfish  motive  in  persuading  others 
to  keep  the  law ;  it  was  that  they,  as  Jewish  Chris- 
tians, might  not  be  persecuted  by  their  unbelieving 
brethren.  It  was  that  they  might  say  that  al- 
though they  believed  in  Jesus,  they  were  yet  zeal- 
ous for  the  law,  and  since  they  regarded  it  as  the 
principal  thing,  they  might  thus  recommend  them- 
selves to  their  Jewish  brethren,  and  on  this  account 
escape  the  persecution  that  was  falling  upon  other 
Christians. 

And  now  he  closes  with  the  indignant  words, 
"  From  henceforth  let  no  man  trouble  me  :  for  I 
bear  branded  on  my  body  the  marks  of  Jesus." 
He  has  spoken  the  last  word  ;  they  may  attack 
him  if  they  choose,  they  may  desert  his  gospel  if 
they  will,  but  let  them  trouble  him  no  further,  for 
he  knows  that  he  is  the  servant  of  Jesus.  He 
bears  on  his  body  the  marks  of  his  apostleship. 
His  back  seamed  by  the  rods  of  the  Roman  officers 
and  the  scourges  of  the  Jewish  authorities,  and 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  211 

his  body  scarred  by  the  stones  of  the  mob  at 
L/ystra,  were  sufficient  proofs  to  him  of  the  genu- 
ineness of  his  apostleship,  of  the  correctness  of 
his  gospel,  and  of  the  uprightness  of  his  charac- 
ter. They  may  believe  him  or  not,  but  he  will  not 
again  condescend  to  defend  himself  against  such 
base  slanders. 

The  letter  is  severe,  and  written  not  without 
some  hardness  and  bitterness  (see  especially  v. 
12),  but  it  seems  to  have  had  the  desired  effect. 
For,  a  few  months  later,  when  writing  to  the  Co- 
rinthians, he  could  inform  them  that  the  churches 
in  Galatia  were  also  taking  part  in  the  collection, 
and  that  the  Christians  at  Corinth  should  follow 
the  same  method  of  making  the  collection  as  they. 
The  crisis  in  Galatia  was  passed,  and  Paul  had 
remained  victor  there ;  but  the  battle  was  yet  to 
be  waged  all  along  the  line.  It  was  but  the  first 
skirmish,  the  prelude  to  a  contest  the  end  of  which 
Paul  himself  was  not  to  live  to  see. 

Soon  bad  news  came  from  the  west.  The 
church  at  Corinth  was  in  a  sad  state.  There  were 
flagrant  cases  of  fornication  among  the  members. 
This  sin,  so  frightfully  common  among  the  hea- 
then, had  polluted  even  the  church.  One  of  the 
members  of  the  congregation  had  married  his 
father's  wife,  that  is,  his  stepmother.  Whether 
she  had  been  divorced  or  was  a  widow,  it  is  not 
said,  but  the  simple  fact,  under  whatever  circum- 
stances, was  an  abomination,  a  pollution  that  could 
not  be  endured  in  the  Christian  community.  In 


212    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

order  to  rebuke  this  and  to  put  an  end  to  it, 
Paul,  as  we  learn  from  1  Cor.  v.  5,  wrote  them  a 
letter  telling  them  that  Christians  dare  not  associ- 
ate with  such.  "  I  wrote  you  in  my  epistle  to  have 
no  company  with  fornicators."  His  letter  was 
disregarded.  Apparently  the  transgressor  was  a 
man  of  influence,  and  the  others,  or  at  least  some 
of  them,  did  not  wish  to  put  him  out  of  the  con- 
gregation. So  they  pretended  to  misunderstand 
Paul's  words.  He  had  written  that  they  should 
"  have  no  company  with  fornicators."  "  Well,  if 
that  is  the  case,"  they  said,  "  it  will  be  necessaiy 
for  us  to  go  out  of  the  world  entirely.  It  is  abso- 
lutely impossible  to  exist  in  the  world  and  shun  all 
such,"  and  with  this  sham  plea  they  excused  them- 
selves from  acting  against  the  one  who  had  sinned 
in  this  way,  and  he  remained  as  before,  a  mem- 
ber "  in  good  standing."  This  letter  of  which 
Paul  speaks  and  from  which  he  quotes  is  lost.  It 
is  idle  to  speculate  what  the  letter  contained  be- 
sides this.  That  the  letter  is  lost  need  not  be  sur- 
prising, for  it  is  not  at  all  probable  that  we  have 
all  the  letters  that  Paul  and  the  other  Apostles 
wrote.  Does  it  seem  likely  that  such  a  busy  man 
as  Paul,  who  founded  so  many  churches  and  un- 
doubtedly tried  to  keep  in  touch  with  as  many  of 
them  as  possible,  should,  in  all  the  thirty  years  or 
more  of  his  missionary  activity,  have  written  only 
a  dozen  letters  ?  When  we  put  the  question  in 
this  way,  the  improbability  of  it  is  at  once  clear. 
This  lost  letter  to  the  Corinthians  failed  to  ac- 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  213 

complish  its  purpose ;  the  guilty  ones  were  not 
punished,  but  on  the  contrary  the  others  were 
puffed  up,  as  if,  because  they  were  Christians, 
they  had  the  special  right  to  allow  such  things  to 
be  practiced  among  them. 

From  comparison  of  Acts  with  1  Corinthians  we 
are  able  to  determine  the  course  of  events  as  fol- 
lows :  This  lost  letter  had  no  effect,  but  affairs  in 
the  congregation  had  grown  worse  in  many  ways. 
Under  these  circumstances  Paul  was  visited  in 
Ephesus  by  certain  members  of  the  household 
of  Chloe,  who  were  at  the  same  time  members 
of  the  neighboring  church  at  Cenchreae.  These 
came  bringing  him  an  account  of  the  condition  of 
the  rival  church,  which  was  divided  into  factions 
and  parties  (see  1  Cor.  i.  11).  Paul  himself  either 
could  not  or  did  not  wish  to  go  to  Corinth,  so  he 
sent  Timothy  on  a  double  errand.  In  the  first 
place  he  should  go  with  Erastus  to  Macedonia  and 
arrange  for  the  grand  collection  which  he  was 
already  planning  to  take  with  him  to  Jerusalem, 
and  then  proceed  to  the  south,  to  Corinth,  and 
settle  the  difficulties  there  (1  Cor.  iv.  7,  xvi.  10, 
11,  Acts  xix.  22).  The  way  through  Macedonia 
was  of  course  much  longer  than  by  sea,  and  it 
would  necessarily  be  some  time  before  Timothy 
would  reach  Corinth. 

But  matters  grew  rapidly  worse  in  the  congre- 
gation. Several  questions  were  being  discussed, 
to  which  they  could  give  no  satisfactory  answer, 
so  they  decided  to  ask  Paul's  advice.  For  this 


214    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

purpose  they  sent  three  men,  Stephanus,  Fortuna- 
tus,  and  Achaicus,  with  a  letter  to  Paul,  asking  his 
opinion  on  several  weighty  matters  which  were 
before  them.  From  this  letter,  and  especially 
from  the  three  men  who  had  just  come,  Paul 
learned  the  exact  condition  of  the  church.  In 
answer  to  their  letter  (which  is  lost),  Paul  wrote 
at  once  the  letter  which  we  call  1  Corinthians  and 
sent  it  the  short  way,  by  the  sea,  expecting  that  it 
would  reach  Corinth  before  the  arrival  of  Timothy 
(1  Cor.  xvi.  10, 11). 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  letter  itself,  and  see 
what  the  condition  of  the  church  was.  The  first 
thing  we  learn  is,  that  the  church  was  divided  into 
parties  because  of  personal  preferences  for  the 
various  leading  missionaries  that  had  been  among 
them.  It  lay  in  the  character  of  the  Greeks  to 
form  parties  and  cliques.  They  had  a  strong 
social  instinct,  and  could  not  live  apart  from 
others.  This  led  him  to  develop  what  we  may 
call  a  most  vigorous  club-life.  They  had  an 
almost  infinite  number  of  clubs,  guilds,  associa- 
tions, and  societies  of  all  kinds.  It  was  the  mis- 
fortune of  the  Greeks  that  they  never  could  agree. 
It  was  this  spirit  of  contention  that  ruined  Greece. 
It  appeared  in  everything,  not  only  in  their  politi- 
cal life,  in  trade,  and  handicraft,  but  also  in  their 
schools  of  philosophy  and  rhetoric.  The  students 
of  one  professor  jostled  and  hooted  those  of  an- 
other in  the  street,  and  often  there  were  broken 
heads  and  bloody  faces  when  they  came  into  too 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  215 

close  quarters.  The  Greek  gave  his  whole  self  to 
the  cause  that  he  espoused  or  to  the  opinion  that 
he  adopted,  with  the  necessary  consequence  that 
he  was  always  in  a  clique  with  those  who  agreed 
with  him,  and  in  bitter  strife  with  those  who  dif- 
fered from  him. 

This  national  habit  or  characteristic  showed 
itself  in  the  church  at  Corinth.  Some  of  them 
were  devoted  admirers  of  Paul  and  of  his  way  of 
presenting  the  truth.  They  preferred  him  because 
of  his  manner,  or  because  of  his  teachings.  They 
had  probably  caught  up  some  of  his  peculiar 
words  and  phrases  which  pleased  them,  and  which 
seemed  to  express  the  truth  better  than  any  other 
form  of  words.  But  others  preferred  Apollos.  He 
had  come  among  them,  a  skilled  philosopher  and 
rhetorician  ;  thoroughly  trained  in  the  schools, 
and  able  by  the  skill  with  which  he  arranged  and 
clothed  his  ideas  to  impress  and  please  those  who 
had  great  aesthetic  pleasure  in  such  things.  His 
teaching  had  been  cast  in  a  philosophical  mould ; 
he  had  had  much  to  say  of  "  knowledge "  and 
"  wisdom  ; "  he  had  used  the  technical  terms  that 
were  in  use  in  the  philosophical  schools,  and  these 
had  made  a  great  impression  on  his  hearers,  who 
were  thus  delighted  with  the  learning  of  the  man, 
and  fancied  that  they  had  arrived  at  a  higher 
stage  of  truth  through  his  instruction  than  through 
that  of  Paul. 

It  has  already  been  said  that  the  Greeks  laid  all 
emphasis  on  knowledge.  That  was  the  principal 


216    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

thing,  for  virtue  consisted  in  knowledge,  not  in  the 
condition  of  the  heart  and  character.  So  these 
Greeks  at  Corinth  were  especially  pleased  with 
Apollos  and  his  form  of  teaching,  because  it  seemed 
to  fall  in  with  their  ideas  about  the  importance  and 
value  of  philosophical  knowledge  and  speculation. 
Their  knowledge  and  conception  of  Christianity 
were  so  superficial,  that  Christ  was  nothing,  his  min- 
isters everything.  To  correct  this  false  impression 
Paul  takes  up  the  first  four  chapters  of  this  letter 
with  a  contrast  between  the  gospel  and  philosophy. 
The  teaching  of  Christ  is  not  a  philosophy,  and  it 
is  not  to  be  compared  with  any  of  the  Greek  sys- 
tems. It  is  not  the  wisdom  for  which  the  Greek 
so  longs,  but  is  something  quite  different.  The 
gospel  is  the  sure  news  which  Christ  has  brought, 
that  there  is  a  God  who  is  the  Father  of  all ;  that 
He  is  gracious  and  merciful  to  his  children,  and  has 
shown  his  attitude  towards  them  and  his  affection 
for  them  in  the  person  of  Jesus,  who  died  for  them  ; 
and  whom  He  raised  from  the  dead  to  a  position  of 
power,  thus  putting  a  seal  upon  his  work  and  teach- 
ing, that  all  might  trust  Him,  and  as  children  of 
God  walk  worthily  of  their  high  position. 

Paul  admits  that  he  had  been  tempted  to  try  the 
philosophical  form  for  his  teaching,  for  that  would 
have  pleased  the  Greek  taste,  but  then  he  had  de- 
termined to  preach  the  simple  gospel ;  to  know 
nothing  among  them  but  Christ  crucified,  for  Christ 
is  shown  to  be  the  power  and  wisdom  of  God,  in 
the  new  motives  and  impulses,  and  consequently  in 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  217 

the  new  life,  which  we  have  from  and  through  him. 
But  Paul  further  excuses  himself  for  not  having 
used  this  form  of  teaching,  because  the  Corinthians 
had  not  yet  learned  the  rudiments  of  Christianity ; 
they  were  still  babes;  they  were  carnal.  To  be 
spiritually  minded,  to  have  the  mind  of  Christ, 
was  to  walk  as  Christ  walked,  in  purity  of  life  and 
character,  without  jealousy  and  strife ;  it  was  to  be 
like  Christ,  pleasing  God  by  keeping  our  hearts 
pure,  and  by  doing  the  duties  which  we  owe  Him 
and  others.  If  they  had  reached  this  stage,  then 
they  might  speculate  if  they  chose,  but  until  they 
had  learned  the  one  all-important  thing,  it  was  im- 
possible for  him  to  proceed  beyond  the  simple  truths 
of  the  gospel.  This  is  the  gospel.  Others  may 
build  further,  but  let  each  one  see  how  he  builds. 
This  truth  in  Christ  is  the  essential  thing ;  it  is 
Christianity.  It  stands  secure.  But  the  work  of 
each  one,  that  is,  the  further  additions  and  specula- 
tions of  each,  shall  be  tried.  One  may  have  built 
well,  may  have  found  out  much  truth  and  been 
thereby  helpful  to  others  ;  all  such  shall  receive  a 
reward.  Another  may  have  gone  entirely  wrong  in 
what  he  has  thought  and  said  ;  his  further  philo- 
sophical speculations  may  be  all  false,  but  if  he  has 
left  the  foundation  truth  untouched,  although  his 
work  shall  perish  he  shall  not  himself  miss  the 
kingdom  of  God. 

In  fact,  it  is  necessary  that  each  should  be  an  in- 
dependent worker  and  builder  on  this  foundation, 
for  each  has  his  own  work.  Each  is  a  steward,  and 


218    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

a  steward  must  be  found  faithful  in  the  manage- 
ment and  development  of  that  intrusted  to  him. 
Paul  had  expressed  the  truth  as  God  had  given  it 
to  him ;  all  that  he  is  he  has  received  from  God. 
Apollos  had  his  own  way  of  teaching,  but  he  too 
had  received  everything  from  God.  They  could 
not  agree  absolutely  in  everything,  for  they  were 
two  individuals,  two  personalities,  and  every  per- 
sonality received  its  peculiar  characteristics  and 
distinctions  from  God.  The  spirit  speaks  through 
these.  It  must  not  be  expected  that  all  shall  say 
the  same  things  in  the  same  way.  But  each  must 
be  faithful  to  God,  to  himself,  and  to  the  truth 
which  God  gave  him  to  see.  Paul  himself  had 
come  to  the  Corinthians,  not  with  the  words  of 
wisdom,  but  with  this  simple  gospel  which  to  the 
learned  seemed  foolishness,  but  with  it  he  had  laid 
the  foundation.  That  is,  he  had  given  them  a 
knowledge  of  the  essential  truth.  But  Apollos  had 
come,  and,  in  a  different  way,  built  further,  but  had 
not  destroyed  the  foundation  or  laid  another  one. 
In  all  this  he  has  been  carrying  on  a  gentle  re- 
buke to  the  Corinthians.  He  has  been  thinking 
all  the  time  of  Apollos  and  himself,  for  he  says : 
"  Now  these  things,  brethren,  I  have  in  a  figure 
transferred  to  myself  and  Apollos  for  your  sakes  ; 
that  in  us  ye  might  learn  not  to  go  beyond  the 
things  that  are  written,  that  no  one  of  you  be 
puffed  up  for  the  one  against  the  other."  That  is, 
"  the  differences  between  Apollos  and  me  are  not 
so  great  as  you  have  imagined,  for  you  have  attrib- 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  219 

uted  too  much  weight  and  importance  to  the  form 
of  the  teaching  and  to  the  secondary  truths  which 
you  have  learned  from  him.  I  gave  you  all  the 
essential  truth  of  Christianity.  That  is  sufficient, 
but  if  you  make  further  speculations  let  them  not 
be  pressed  into  differences  and  made  causes  for 
division.  Above  all,  personal  preferences  should 
have  no  such  influence.  For  what  is  Apollos,  and 
what  is  Paul  ?  Only  servants,  who  served  each 
with  the  gifts  which  God  had  given  him,  for  which 
each  shall  receive  his  peculiar  reward." 

Knowing  the  great  value  attributed  by  the 
Greeks  to  knowledge,  and  the  constant  danger  to 
which  they  were  exposed  in  this  direction,  with 
chapter  iii.  18  he  begins  a  brief  warning  against 
the  "  wisdom  of  this  world  ; "  and  by  that  he  means 
undoubtedly  the  speculations  about  the  many 
questions  which  were  agitating  the  minds  of  men, 
and  were  discussed  with  such  subtlety  by  the  phi- 
losophers. They  were  questions  about  the  sub- 
stance of  the  world,  its  nature  and  essence,  its 
origin,  its  destiny,  about  the  mysteries  of  life  and 
death,  and  the  thousand  and  one  other  questions 
that  come  to  every  one  who  stops  to  observe  and 
think  about  the  things  that  are  about  him.  These 
things  are  foolishness  if  they  are  thought  to  be  re- 
ligious or  if  put  into  the  place  of  religion,  for  they 
are  knowledge  which  shall  be  done  away.  But  the 
true  wisdom  is  the  knowledge  of  God  which  has 
been  revealed  through  Christ,  and  if  they  possess 
that  they  possess  all  things. 


220    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHUfiCH. 

Instead  of  striving  about  who  is  the  greatest, 
they  ought  rather  to  rejoice  in  the  possession  of  all 
things,  since  no  matter  what  the  explanation  of  the 
mysteries  of  the  world,  of  life  and  death ;  no  mat- 
ter what  the  course  of  things  may  bring  forth, 
they  are  safe  in  the  keeping  of  Christ,  and  he  is 
safe  in  the  keeping  of  God.  But  instead  of  this 
childlike  trust  in  God,  this  leaving  everything  to 
his  fatherly  care,  they  had  been  puffed  up  as  if 
they  owed  Him  nothing ;  as  if  they  h.ad  filled  them- 
selves and  made  themselves  rich.  They  had  for- 
gotten their  position  as  servants,  and  had  assumed 
the  place  of  rulers ;  they  had  forgotten  the  humble 
position  which  Paul  occupied,  and  were  not  follow- 
ing his  example.  And  then  in  a  few  sharp  sen- 
tences and  with  the  finest  irony  he  reminds  them 
of  his  condition,  and  contrasts  it  with  their  high 
pretensions.  They  had  forgotten  him,  their  spir- 
itual father,  and  were  reigning  without  him.  He 
had  had  no  share  in  their  glory.  But  no,  you  have 
not  really  reigned,  but,  "  I  would  that  ye  did  reign, 
that  I  also  might  reign  with  you.  For  I  think  God 
hath  set  forth  us  the  apostles  last  of  all,  as  men 
doomed  to  death :  for  we  are  made  a  spectacle  unto 
the  world,  and  to  angels,  and  to  men.  We  are  fools 
for  Christ's  sake,  but  ye  are  wise  in  Christ ;  we 
are  weak,  but  ye  are  strong ;  ye  have  glory,  but 
we  have  dishonor.  Even  unto  this  present  hour 
we  both  hunger,  and  thirst,  and  are  naked,  and 
are  buffeted,  and  have  no  certain  dwelling-place ; 
and  we  toil,  working  with  our  own  hands  :  being 


THE  BEST  YEAES  OF  PAUL.  221 

reviled,  we  bless ;  being  persecuted,  we  endure ; 
being  defamed,  we  intreat :  we  are  made  as  the 
filth  of  the  world,  the  offscouring  of  all  things, 
even  until  now  "  (iv.  8-13^).  This  was  Paul's  con- 
dition, although  he  was  an  apostle.  Let  the  Co- 
rinthians remember  that  the  time  is  not  yet  come 
for  reigning.  It  is  the  time  for  serving  and  suf- 
fering, for  doing  the  work  that  God  has  given  to 
each. 

But  there  was  also  a  party  in  Corinth  which  pre- 
ferred Peter.  From  the  fact  that  there  were  such, 
it  is  almost  certain  that  Peter  had  also  been  in 
Corinth  in  the  mean  time,  though  probably  only  for 
a  short  time,  and  some  had  thought  him  greater 
than  either  Apollos  or  Paul. 

They  were  saying,  "  I  am  of  Paul,"  and  "I  am 
of  Apollos,"  and  "  I  am  of  Peter,"  but  Paul  in  a 
single  sentence  administers  the  sharpest  rebuke 
possible,  for  he  adds,  "  I  am  of  Christ,  yet  you,  by 
your  cliques,  divide  Christ.  Has  Paul  been  cruci- 
fied for  you  ?  " 

There  was  also  the  beginning  of  another  party, 
which  later  was  to  develop  into  a  strong,  violent 
opposition  to  Paul.  Some  of  them  were  puffed  up, 
and  were  saying  that  Paul  did  not  dare  come  to 
Corinth. 

It  must  be  noted  that  in  all  this  discussion  about 
Apollos,  Peter,  and  himself,  there  is  nothing  that 
would  indicate  that  there  was  any  opposition  exist- 
ing among  themselves.  He  speaks  of  Apollos  in 
terms  of  the  highest  recognition,  and  there  is  not 


222    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

a  word  of  blame  or  detraction  against  either  him 
or  Peter.  On  the  contrary,  the  language  used  of 
Apollos  in  chapter  xvi.  12  shows  that  Paul  and 
Apollos  were  on  the  most  friendly  terms,  for  Paul 
wished  Apollos  to  return  to  Corinth  to  help  settle 
the  difficulties  that  were  troubling  the  congrega- 
tion. But  Apollos  had  evidently  had  enough  of 
the  Corinthians  and  was  greatly  displeased  with 
their  conduct.  For,  although  Paul  had  begged  him 
to  return,  he  had  persistently  and  determinedly 
refused.  But  still  Paul  hoped  that  he  would  come 
at  some  future  time. 

In  the  fifth  chapter  he  turns  to  the  flagrant  case 
of  fornication,  and  demands  that  the  whole  con- 
gregation shall  meet  and  solemnly  expel  the  of- 
fender, and  that  they  shall  refuse  to  readmit  him 
to  their  society  or  fellowship  until  he  has  repented. 
More  than  that,  they  must  have  no  fellowship  with 
fornicators,  with  covetous,  with  idolaters,  with  re- 
vilers,  with  extortioners.  For  the  church  must 
consist  of  those  who  have  ceased  to  practice  such 
abominations  and  are  striving  to  imitate  the  con- 
duct of  Christ,  and  to  live  according  to  the  laws  of 
the  kingdom  of  God. 

There  was  further  a  lack  of  Christian  brotherly 
love  among  them.  They  quarreled  with  each  other, 
and  were  having  lawsuits,  and,  although  they  were 
Christian  brethren,  they  appealed  to  heathen  judges 
to  settle  their  difficulties  (vi.  1—11).  It  was  a  great 
defect  in  them  that  they  had  such  differences  at  all. 
Why  not  rather  suffer  wrong  ?  Why  not  rather 


THE  BEST  YEAES  OF  PAUL.  223 

submit  to  being  defrauded  ?  For  that  certainly  is 
more  in  keeping  with  the  teaching  and  example  of 
Christ,  than  that  they  should  themselves  defraud 
and  wrong  others.  Above  all,  they  should  by  no 
means  appeal  to  the  heathen  to  decide  between 
them,  but  rather  let  some  Christian  brother  settle 
their  strifes. 

Again  he  turns  to  the  question  of  fornication 
(vi.  12).  The  whole  defect  was  that  they  did  not 
look  upon  this  as  a  sin.  Especially  among  the 
Greeks,  the  view  was  prevalent  that  lust  was  a  nat- 
ural appetite,  just  like  hunger  and  thirst,  and  that 
the  satisfying  of  the  one  was  as  innocent  as  that  of 
the  other.  As  the  belly  is  for  meats  and  meats  for 
the  belly,  so  the  body  is  for  fornication.  So  far 
from  being  a  sin,  it  was  even  looked  upon  as  a  part 
of  the  worship  of  some  of  the  gods.  But  Paul  re- 
minds them  that  there  is  a  world-wide  difference 
between  them,  for  fornication  is  a  defilement  of  the 
body,  which  is  the  temple  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

With  the  seventh  chapter  Paul  begins  to  answer 
certain  questions  which  they  had  asked  him  in  the 
letter  which  the  three  brethren  had  brought  with 
them.  The  question  of  marriage  and  the  marriage 
duty  was  agitating  them.  They  were  not  clear 
whether  marriage  was  right  or  not,  and  the  mutual 
rights  and  duties  of  husband  and  wife  were  in  con- 
troversy. The  question  was  still  more  perplexing 
if  the  husband  or  wife  were  an  unbeliever.  Was 
it  not  necessary  that  the  Christian  husband  or  wife 
should  be  separated  from  his  unbelieving  partner? 


224    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

Paul  says  in  reply,  "  It  is  a  good  thing  not  to  marry ; 
I  say  unto  the  unmarried  and  widows,  it  is  good 
for  them  that  they  abide  even  as  I,"  that  is,  unmar- 
ried. But  all  do  not  have  the  gift  of  continence, 
and  therefore,  that  temptation  and  sin  may  be 
avoided,  it  is  better  that  each  man  have  his  own  wife 
and  each  woman  her  own  husband.  For  the  mar- 
ried state  is  not  sinful,  but  is  in  accordance  with 
the  will  and  arrangements  of  God.  But  if  the  un- 
believing partner  is  unwilling  to  continue  the  mar- 
riage relation  with  a  Christian,  let  no  force  be 
used  to  compel  him  to  do  so,  for  the  Christian  wife 
or  husband  thus  deserted  is  without  fault  or  blame. 

Since  circumcision  was  not  of  any  religious  value, 
some  of  the  Jewish  Christians  were  endeavoring  by 
artificial  means  to  remove  the  mark  of  circumcision, 
which  among  the  Greeks  was  a  sign  of  barbarism 
and  was  looked  upon  with  disgust.  Others,  on  the 
contrary,  were  receiving  it  as  if  it  were  of  value. 
To  these,  Paul  says,  both  are  wrong,  for  there  is 
no  value  in  either  circumcision  or  uncircumcision. 
The  one  thing  is  to  do  the  will  of  God  by  perform- 
ing faithfully  the  duties  of  our  calling. 

With  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  and  the  bro- 
therhood of  believers,  the  question  of  slavery  at  once 
arose,  and  might  at  any  moment  become  a  burning 
one.  If  a  slave  is  a  free  man  in  Christ,  and  the 
brother  of  his  master,  can  it  be  right  for  him  to 
remain  in  the  position  of  a  slave  ?  Ought  he  not 
rather  to  insist  on  being  set  free  and  in  all  things 
recognized  as  the  equal  of  his  master  ?  Paul's  an- 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  225 

swer  is,  No,  each  one  should  remain  in  the  occupa- 
tion in  which  Christianity  found  him.  Christianity 
is  not  to  bring  about  a  revolution ;  it  is  not  to 
overthrow  the  social  and  economic  system  by  vio- 
lent measures.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  to  sanctify 
and  ennoble  every  honest  calling,  every  duty,  and 
all  the  relations  of  life.  Religion  has  nothing  to 
do  with  the  external  or  social  condition,  but  each 
should  remain  where  the  gospel  found  him.  For 
the  slave  is  a  free  man  in  Christ,  and  the  free  man 
is  a  slave  in  Christ,  for  all  are  brethren  by  the  law 
of  Christ. 

In  the  matter  of  marriage  and  in  the  giving  or ' 
withholding  of  a  daughter  in  marriage,  Paul  gives 
his  own  judgment,  his  opinion,  for  he  says  that. 
Christ  left  no  command  in  regard  to  those  things. 
He  lays  it  upon  them,  not  as  a  command,  but  as 
his  opinion.  It  is  what  his  "  sanctified  common- 
sense  "  tells  him  is  right.  Remain  as  you  are ;  if 
married,  seek  not  a  divorce ;  if  unmarried,  seek  not 
a  partner ;  but  if  you  do  marry,  you  have  committed 
no  sin.  But  the  time  is  short,  we  are  in  the  last 
days,  and  we  ought  to  be  careful  for  the  things  of 
the  Lord,  and  to  be  ready  for  what  is  coming.  But 
he  who  marries,  assumes  duties  and  relations  which 
must  necessarily  hinder  him  from  being  so  careful 
for  the  things  of  the  Lord  as  he  might  otherwise 
be.  According  to  the  customs  of  those  times,  the 
father  had  the  sole  right  to  dispose  of  his  daughter's 
hand  in  marriage.  Paul  found  no  fault  with  this, 
but  said  that  each  father  should  act  in  this  matter 


226    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

as  seemed  good  to  him.  If  he  chose  to  give  his 
daughter  in  marriage,  it  was  good,  if  not,  however, 
it  was  better  ;  for  Paul  believed  that  because  of  the 
"  present  distress  "  and  of  the  "  shortness  of  the 
times"  she  would  be  happier  unmarried,  for  she 
would  thereby  escape  much  tribulation  in  the  flesh. 
In  the  eighth  chapter  he  answers  their  question 
about  meats  that  had  been  sacrificed  to  idols.  It 
was  the  custom  to  offer  an  animal  in  sacrifice  in  the 
temple,  have  the  flesh  prepared,  and  invite  one's 
friends  to  take  part  in  this  temple  meal.  The  Co- 
rinthian Christians  were  at  a  loss  to  know  whether 
they  might  accept  such  an  invitation,  or  whether 
they  might  under  any  circumstances  partake  of  such 
flesh.  Paul  says  in  answer:  Of  course  you  know 
that  these  idols  are  nothing ;  there  is  but  one  God, 
who  has  made,  controls,  and  knows  all  things.  You 
know  that  eating  of  itself  has  nothing  to  do  with 
religion ;  you  can  neither  please  nor  displease  God 
thereby.  It  is  perfectly  proper  to  accept  such  an 
invitation,  for  you  would  eat  of  this  flesh  as  coming 
from  God's  hand ;  you  would  eat  it  to  his  glory. 
But  some  one  who  does  not  have  this  knowledge 
may  see  you  seated  in  a  heathen  temple  taking  part 
in  one  of  these  temple  meals.  He  would  regard 
this  as  a  sin,  and  would  be  offended  at  it ;  or  he 
might  think  that  he  might  do  the  same  thing,  and  so 
would  take  part  in  such  a  meal  as  if  it  were  really 
a  sacrifice  to  another  god,  and  thus  bring  upon 
himself  the  guilt  of  idolatry.  So  that,  although 
you  have  a  right  to  take  part  in  such  meals,  yet  if 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  227 

you  thereby  wound  the  weak  conscience  of  a  bro- 
ther, or  lead  him  to  fall  into  sin,  you  should  deny 
yourselves  of  the  privilege.  If  need  be,  you  should 
abstain  wholly  from  such  meals. 

But  some  went  further,  and  said  that  it  was  per- 
fectly proper  for  the  Christian  to  go  through  the 
motions  of  offering  sacrifice.  They  know  that 
these  idols  are  nothing,  and  can  therefore  perform 
these  rites  without  being  guilty  of  idolatry.  But 
here  Paul  draws  the  line.  The  idols  to  which  the 
heathen  sacrifice  are,  to  be  sure,  not  gods,  but 
they  are  demons,  evil  spirits,  and  if  we  offer  them 
sacrifices,  we  thereby  show  that  we  wish  to  have 
communion  with  them.  But  we  cannot  have  fel- 
lowship with  these  and  at  the  same  time  with 
Christ.  And  again  Paul  repeats  what  he  has  said 
in  the  eighth  chapter:  these  things  are  lawful, 
each  one  has  the  abstract  right  to  practice  them, 
but  there  is  a  higher  power  that  may  forbid  it. 
Each  one  is  bound  to  build  up,  to  strengthen,  his 
fellow-Christians.  He  must  do  nothing  which  will 
cause  another  to  stumble.  Therefore  if  you  are 
invited  to  a  feast,  and  choose  to  accept,  go  and 
eat  what  is  set  before  you  without  asking  any  ques- 
tions, for  you  give  thanks  to  God,  the  Giver  of  all. 
But  if  some  Christian  brother  with  a  weak  con- 
science tells  you  that  this  flesh  has  been  offered  to 
idols,  you  must  abstain  from  eating,  lest  you  wound 
his  conscience  and  lead  him  into  sin.  For  in  all 
things  we  must  imitate  Christ,  who  sought  not  his 
own  pleasure,  but  came  to  serve. 


228    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

Paul  had  asserted  the  high  principle,  that  in 
Christ  there  is  neither  Jew  nor  Gentile,  neither 
bond  nor  free,  neither  male  nor  female.     That  is, 
all  are  on  an  equality.    It  follows  necessarily  from 
this  that  slaves  ought  to  be  free  and  that  women 
should  have  equal  rights  with  the  men.     That  is 
just  the  conclusion  which  some  of  the  slaves  were 
making,  as  we  have  seen  from  1  Cor.  vii.  21,  and 
now  we  learn  that  the  women  had  begun  to  act 
on  this  logical  inference.     They  appeared  in  the 
meetings  of  the  Christians,  and  took  part  in  the 
worship,  praying  and  prophesying  with  uncovered 
heads,  that  is,  with  unveiled  faces.     They  thought 
Christianity  was  to   produce  a  revolution  in  the 
social  customs,  and  free  them  from  all  the  limita- 
tions that  were  to  them,  no  doubt,  very  burden- 
some.    This  new-found  liberty  and  equality  were 
to  be  used  to  the  full,  regardless  of  the  conse- 
quences.    But  such  conduct  was  contrary  to  all  of 
the  world's  conceptions  of  modesty  and  proper  con- 
duct on  the  part  of  women.     It  was  exceedingly 
offensive  to  every  one.    If  this  should  be  identified 
as  a  part  of  Christian  teaching  and  principle,  it 
would  cause  a  total  misconception  of  the  essential 
character  of  Christianity,  and  bring  about  opposi- 
tion, contempt,  and  ridicule.     So,  of  course,  Paul 
opposes  it.     But  his  arguments  are  drawn  wholly 
from  the  universal  sense  of  propriety.     He  indeed 
says  that  the  woman  was  created  for  the  man,  and 
not  the  man  for  the  woman,  but  he  at  once  de- 
prives this  of  all  weight,  by  saying  that  the  man 


THE  BEST  TEARS  OF  PAUL.  229 

without  the  woman  is  nothing,  even  as  also  the 
woman  without  the  man.  He  says,  too,  that  the 
woman  ought  to  have  authority  on  her  head  be- 
cause of  the  angels,  but  what  Paul  meant  by  that 
no  one  now  knows.  Further  than  this  he  could 
only  add,  "  Does  not  nature,  that  is,  your  sense  of 
propriety,  tell  you  that  the  woman  ought  to  have 
her  head  covered  ?  "  But  here  he  does  not  criticise 
the  woman  for  taking  part  in  the  services,  but  only 
because  they  did  so  with  the  head  uncovered.  But 
in  1  Cor.  xiv.  34  he  returns  to  the  question,  and 
forbids  the  women  to  speak  in  the  church  because 
it  is  regarded  as  improper ;  it  is  contrary  to  pub- 
lic opinion ! 

Paul,  with  the  ninth  chapter,  turns  to  his  per- 
sonal opponents,  to  refute  them  and  defend  him- 
self against  their  false  charges.  From  this  we 
learn  something  of  their  opposition  to  him,  and 
the  charges  which  they  made  against  him.  They 
too  had  denied  his  apostleship  ;  he  had  not  seen 
Christ  as  the  other  apostles  had.  He  was  not 
a  free,  independent  apostle  as  the  Twelve  were. 
But  Paul  replies,  "  although  I  may  not  be  regarded 
as  an  apostle  by  others,  yet  I  certainly  am  an  apos- 
tle to  you,  for  I  preached  Christ  to  you."  His 
success  was  sufficient  proof  of  his  apostleship. 
This  was  his  defense  to  those  who  attacked  his 
authority.  They  had  further  said  that  the  reason 
Paul  had  not  received  money  from  his  churches 
was  that  he  had  no  right  to  do  so.  They  knew  it 
was  his  custom  always  to  work  to  support  himself, 


230    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

and  they  declared  that  he  had  made  a  virtue  out  of 
necessity,  and  had  pretended  to  do  so  from  choice. 
No,  he  was  not  a  free  genuine  apostle,  equal  to 
the  others  ;  they  might  receive  support  from  their 
churches,  but  he  had  no  such  right.  They  even 
made  capital  out  of  the  fact  that  the  other  apostles 
were  married  and  Paul  was  not.  In  some  way 
this  was  explained  to  his  disadvantage.  Both  Paul 
and  Barnabas  were  attacked  in  this  way. 

But  Paul  defends  himself  and  Barnabas  with  sev- 
eral arguments.  No  soldier  ever  serves  at  his  own 
expense  ;  no  man  plants  a  vineyard  without  having 
a  right  to  eat  of  its  fruit ;  no  man  feeds  a  flock 
without  having  the  right  to  the  milk  which  it  pro- 
duces ;  even  God  had  provided  that  no  one  should 
work  for  others  without  being  supported  by  them, 
since  he  had  commanded  that  even  the  ox  should 
not  be  muzzled  while  he  was  at  work,  but  should 
be  allowed  to  have  his  share  of  the  grain  which  he 
had  helped  to  till  and  thresh.  Besides,  Paul  had 
brought  them  spiritual  possessions,  which  are  of 
far  more  value  than  temporal  goods :  had  he  not 
the  right  to  receive  the  smaller  in  return  for  the 
greater  ?  Since  he  had  been  the  first  to  bring  them 
the  truth,  had  he  not  a  greater  right  than  those 
who  came  after  him?  Further,  it  is  the  rule,  the 
world  over,  that  those  who  minister  in  sacred 
things,  and  are  connected  with  a  temple,  should 
live  from  the  gifts  to  the  temple.  But  he  has  even 
a  still  higher  authority,  for  Christ  himself  had  de- 
clared that  those  who  went  out  to  proclaim  his 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  231 

gospel  should  live  thereby.  But  while  Paul  knew 
that  this  was  his  right,  he  had  not  used  it.  He 
had  determined  to  make  the  gospel  free,  that  it 
might  be  clear  to  all  that  his  motives  were  pure, 
and  that  he  was  preaching,  not  for  the  sake  of  the 
gain,  but  becaiise  of  his  love  and  devotion  to 
Christ.  He  had  not  used  all  of  his  rights,  but  had 
denied  himself  in  many  ways.  Although  free  from 
the  observance  of  the  law  of  Moses,  he  had  yet 
lived  as  though  bound  by  it,  in  order  that  he  might 
win  those  who  were  still  under  it.  To  the  heathen 
who  were  without  the  law  of  Moses  he  had  shown 
that  he  also  was  without  that  law,  but  that  he  was 
under  the  law  of  Christ,  the  law  of  love  and  ser- 
vice, that  he  might  win  these  for  Christ.  Let  no 
one  suppose  that  this  was  easy  for  him  to  do  ;  by 
no  means,  for  it  is  a  hard  struggle,  and  it  is  neces- 
sary for  him  to  buffet  his  body  and  bring  it  into 
subjection.  It  is  a  duty  laid  upon  him,  and  it  is 
necessary  that  he  be  found  faithful,  or  he  may 
lose  his  reward,  and  himself  be  rejected.  From 
2  Corinthians  we  learned  that  this  party  was  not 
silenced  by  this  defense,  but  the  opposition  contin- 
ued until  it  reached  its  climax,  and  led  to  a  sharp 
crisis  in  the  congregation,  as  we  shall  see  when  we 
come  to  speak  of  that  later. 

The  passage  1  Cor.  xi.  17-34,  shows  us  a  strange 
picture  of  the  affairs  in  the  church  and  especially 
of  the  way  in  which  the  Lord's  supper  was  cele- 
brated. In  the  first  place,  they  carried  their  party 
strifes  and  divisions  even  into  this.  It  was  the 


232     HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHUECH. 

custom  for  all  the  members  to  bring  food  with  them 
to  the  place  of  meeting,  and  all  was  then  put  to- 
gether and  a  meal  prepared  of  which  all  were  to 
eat  without  any  distinction.  Then,  at  a  convenient 
moment,  probably  at  the  end  of  the  meal,  reference 
was  made  to  the  sufferings  and  death  of  Jesus,  and 
all  partook  of  the  bread  and  wine.  Thus  it  formed 
the  close  of  a  greater  meal,  just  as  on  the  night  of 
its  institution  it  formed  the  close  of  the  passover 
meal.  But  in  Corinth  the  members  were  divided 
into  cliques,  and  even  this  meal  was  no  longer  a 
common  one,  for  some  had  an  abundance  and  others 
had  nothing.  By  some  it  was  made  an  occasion  of 
feasting  and  drinking,  while  others  even  suffered 
hunger.  It  was  impossible,  therefore,  for  them  to 
observe  the  Lord's  supper.  It  had  been  instituted 
as  a  common  meal,  a  symbol  of  the  Christian  equal- 
ity and  brotherhood,  but  they  were  making  it  a 
mark  of  division. 

The  chapters  twelve  to  fourteen  are  taken  up 
with  the  discussion  of  what  is  called  spiritual  gifts. 
The  conception  on  which  this  is  based  is  as  follows : 
Every  Christian  has  the  Spirit,  which  inspires  him, 
or  leads  him  to  do  what  he  can  for  the  general  or 
particular  welfare  of  the  congregation,  or  of  the 
whole  body  of  Christians.  This  activity,  of  what- 
ever kind,  was  regarded  as  a  gift  of  the  Spirit. 
Some  were  apostles,  others  were  prophets,  others 
were  teachers,  others  could  work  miracles  or  pow- 
ers (but  we  are  nowhere  told  what  these  were) ; 
others  spoke  with  tongues,  others  could  interpret 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  233 

these,  others  had  the  "word  of  wisdom  or  know- 
ledge," that  is,  they  could  give  satisfactory  answers 
to  the  many  deep,  dark  questions  which  were  then 
disturbing  the  minds  of  men  ;  others  had  the  gift 
of  serving  in  various  ways,  the  gift  of  liberality, 
mercy,  hospitality,  and  so  forth.  Thus  every  ac- 
tivity in  the  congregation  was  regarded  as  a  gift  of 
the  Spirit.  Each  one  therefore,  according  to  his 
ability,  which  was  his  gift,  worked  for  the  welfare 
of  all.  Some  services  were,  of  course,  in  the  eyes 
of  men  more  honorable  than  others,  but  all  were 
necessary.  And  just  as  there  can  be  no  jealousy 
and  strife  between  the  various  members  of  the  body, 
so  there  ought  to  be  none  between  the  members  of 
Christ's  body,  all  of  whom  are  thus  inspired  by  the 
same  spirit.  But  some  might  profess  to  be  Chris- 
tians, to  have  the  Spirit,  and  yet  be  wrong,  and 
deceive  others.  How  were  these  to  be  tested  ?  How 
could  one  guard  against  this  danger  ?  There  are 
two  tests  to  be  applied  to  all  who  claim  to  have 
the  spirit.  In  the  first  place,  we  must  ask,  "  What 
is  your  attitude  to  the  person  of  Jesus  ?  "  No  one 
who  opposes  Jesus  or  sets  himself  above  him  has 
the  Spirit.  Such  a  one  is  false  and  must  not  be 
trusted.  The  other  test  is  the  one  which  Jesus  him- 
self gave,  "  By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them  ; " 
that  is,  by  their  manner  of  life.  If  they  follow  the 
principles  which  Christ  taught,  if  they  exhibit  an 
undisturbed  trust  in  God,  if  they  deny  themselves 
by  doing  their  duty,  rather  than  seeking  their  own 
pleasure,  and  if  they  serve  others  in  love  ;  in  a  word, 


234     HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

if  they  imitate  Jesus  in  their  daily  lives,  they  have 
the  Spirit  of  God  and  are  to  be  listened  to. 

Now  what  was  the  trouble  at  Corinth  ?  Every- 
thing had  fallen  into  disorder  because,  in  a  spirit  of 
strife  and  pride,  each  one  insisted  that  his  gift  was 
the  most  important  of  all,  and  that  when  he  had 
anything  to  say  the  others  must  keep  still.  Their 
meetings,  instead  of  being  orderly  and  becoming, 
had  become  a  bedlam  of  confusion  and  contention, 
each  demanding  that  he  be  heard,  and  refusing  to 
give  place  to  another. 

One  gift  especially  seems  to  have  been  cultivated 
almost  to  the  exclusion  of  others.  They  were  seized 
with  a  kind  of  craze  for  it,  and  esteemed  it  above 
all  others  in  value  and  importance.  They  looked 
upon  the  speaking  of  tongues  as  far  more  important 
and  honorable  than  the  simple  preaching  of  the 
word.  There  was  a  showiness  and  mystery  about 
this  which  attracted  all  and  made  them  despise 
other  gifts.  The  mysterious  ecstacy  of  the  speaker, 
the  strange  influence  of  the  Spirit,  the  "  unknown 
tongue,"  all  were  looked  upon  with  honor  and  envy, 
although  the  message  was  seldom  understood.  And 
so  taken  up  were  they  with  this,  that  they  each  strove 
to  surpass  the  other,  and  boasted  of  their  much 
speaking.  They  would  estimate  a  man's  goodness 
and  dignity  by  the  amount  of  this  power  which 
he  possessed,  while  the  one  who  wished  to  speak  a 
plain  word  for  their  edification  was  scarcely  al- 
lowed the  time  for  such  a  commonplace  act.  But 
Paul  rebukes  them  for  this,  because  they  are  mea- 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  235 

suring  everything  by  a  false  standard.  They  look 
simply  at  the  externals,  at  that  which  is  calculated 
to  fill  one  with  awe  and  admiration.  He  then  gives 
them  the  true  standard  for  measuring  the  value  of 
all  these  gifts.  He  lays  down  the  principle  that 
that  gift  is  highest  and  most  valuable  which  brings 
the  greatest  profit  to  the  greatest  number ;  that 
gift  is  lowest  and  of  least  value  which  benefits 
the  smallest  number.  Speaking  with  tongues  was 
showy,  but  it  helped  no  one  except  its  possessor, 
because  generally  no  one  else  could  understand  it. 
That  it  could  be  helpful  to  others,  it  was  necessary 
that  it  be  interpreted.  Consequently  it  was  one  of 
the  lowest  and  least  valuable  gifts.  The  working 
of  wonders  is  put  very  low  too,  because  it  affects 
only  a  few.  The  gift  of  prophesying,  of  preaching, 
of  instruction  in  the  way  of  the  Lord,  of  exhor- 
tation, is  of  very  great  value,  because  it  benefits 
almost  the  whole  congregation. 

They  should  all,  therefore,  desire  the  greater 
spiritual  gifts,  those  by  which  they  would  be  most 
serviceable  to  the  whole  body  of  Christians.  But 
is  it  not  impossible  for  all  to  have  the  greater  gifts  ? 
No,  for  the  greatest  gift  is  in  the  reach  of  all;  the 
gift,  too,  without  which  all  other  gifts  are  entirely 
valueless.  So  Paul  shows  them  a  still  more  excellent 
way  in  that  grand  lyric  of  Christian  love  (ch.  xiii.) 
whose  teaching  has  never  yet  been  adequately  ex- 
emplified in  the  life  of  the  Christian  church.  The 
power  to  speak  with  all  tongi^s,  of  both  men  and 
angels,  all  the  power  of  prophecy,  the  knowledge  of 


236     HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

all  mysteries,  the  power  to  work  miracles,  the 
greatest  liberality,  the  greatest  self-sacrifice,  with- 
out love,  are  nothing  (vss.  4-7). 

Prophecies  and  tongues  and  theological  specula- 
tions are  imperfect ;  they  are  connected  with  the 
limitations  that  now  hem  us  in.  But  when  the  per- 
fect time  comes  they  shall  all  cease.  But  love  shall 
never  end.  It  is  greater  than  all  other  gifts,  even 
than  faith  and  hope.  For  faith  and  hope,  although 
of  the  utmost  importance,  are  individual,  they  affect 
directly  and  principally  only  their  possessors.  But 
love  affects  all,  indeed,  it  is  essential  to  the  very 
existence  of  the  church.  It  is  the  family  affection, 
without  which  Christians  cannot  recognize  each 
other  as  brethren.  It  is  that  which  binds  all  to- 
gether and  makes  each  one  willing  to  spend  himself 
in  the  service  of  others.  The  point  of  view  from 
which  everything  is  to  be  looked  at  and  judged  is 
that  of  the  whole  church  and  not  that  of  the  indi- 
vidual. From  this  point  of  view  love  is  the  greatest 
of  all.  Not  the  love  that  consists  in  a  theoretical 
enthusiasm  for  humanity  in  general,  and  exhausts 
itself  in  writing  aesthetic  essays  about  the  dignity 
and  nobility  of  man,  but  a  feeling  of  sympathy 
translated  into  action,  into  a  life  of  service  and  help- 
fulness for  others.  And  this  inestimable  gift  is  in 
the  reach  of  all,  for  every  one  can  serve  his  brethren 
with  all  his  powers.  "  He  that  would  be  greatest 
in  the  kingdom  of  Jieaven,  let  him  be  the  servant 
of  all."  -u 

In  the  fifteenth  chapter  Paul  discusses  the  res- 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  237 

urrection.  Some  in  Corinth  had  denied  that  there 
is  such  a  thing  as  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  and 
that  not  even  Jesus  made  an  exception  to  this  rule. 
Paul  refutes  this,  first,  by  reminding  them  that  it 
was  an  essential  part  of  his  gospel  that  Jesus  had 
been  raised  from  the  dead.  He  names  those  to 
whom  he  had  appeared,  first  to  Peter,  then  to  the 
Twelve,  then  to  more  than  five  hundred  brethren 
at  once,  many  of  whom  were  still  alive  and  could 
testify  to  the  fact ;  then  to  James,  and  again  to  all 
the  first  disciples,  and  last  of  all  to  himself.  Paul 
bases  everything  on  the  resurrection  of  Christ ;  if 
he  was  not  raised  then  we  have  no  assurance  that 
we  shall  be  raised.  But  the  fact  stands  secure, 
that  the  Christ  still  lives.  The  testimony  for  it 
cannot  be  doubted.  The  proofs  are  overwhelming. 
Mocking,  they  had  asked,  "  but  with  what  kind  of 
body  shall  the  dead  be  raised  ?  Shall  these  bodies 
which  we  now  have  be  restored  ?  "  They  could  form 
no  clear  idea  of  what  the  resurrection  body  would 
be,  and  therefore  the  resurrection  seemed  to  them 
impossible.  In  the  first  place,  we  must  not  think 
that  we  shall  be  raised  with  these  bodies,  for  flesh 
and  blood  cannot  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God.  And 
then  Paul  uses  a  comparison,  the  point  of  which 
has  been  generally  overlooked.  A  seed  of  wheat, 
for  instance,  is  cast  into  the  ground,  quickens,  and 
dies,  but  from  it  there  springs  up,  not  another 
grain  of  wheat,  but  a  stalk  of  different  form  or 
body,  but  such  as  God  has  appointed  to  it.  So 
also  of  the  resurrection  body.  The  body  which  v/c 


238     HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

now  have  is  weak,  inglorious,  corruptible,  natural. 
But  it  is  laid  away  and  "  dies,"  and  as  the  form  of 
the  plant  differs  from  that  of  the  seed,  so  the  form 
of  the  resurrection  body  shall  differ  from  that  of 
the  body  that  is  laid  away.  But  God  will  give  to 
each  the  proper  form.  What  it  will  be,  we  do  not 
know.  We  can  only  say  of  it  that  it  will  be  incor- 
ruptible, glorious,  not  subject  to  weakness,  spirit- 
ual. For  Jesus  has  become  a  life-giving  spirit,  and 
we  shall  be  like  him.  Although  we  have  now  the 
image  of  the  earthly,  we  shall  bear  the  image  of 
the  hqavenly ;  for  Jesus  has  made  it  possible  for  us 
to  become  partakers  of  the  divine  nature. 

In  the  last  chapter  he  gives  them  directions 
about  making  the  collection  for  the  Church  at 
Jerusalem.  On  the  first  day  of  the  week  each 
should  lay  by  him  in  store,  as  he  has  prospered 
during  the  week.  Paul  does  not  yet  know  whether 
he  shall  go  to  Jerusalem  with  this  collection,  or 
send  it  by  messengers.  He  promises  to  come  to 
them  after  he  has  passed  through  Macedonia,  for  it 
is  his  intention  to  make  a  tour  through  that  prov- 
ince. His  further  movements  are,  as  yet,  uncer- 
tain. He  may  even  spend  the  next  winter  in  Cor- 
inth, but  excuses  himself  for  not  coming  to  them 
at  once,  on  the  ground  that  he  could  remain  with 
them  but  a  short  time,  and  he  does  not  wish  to  see 
them  simply  "  by  the  way,"  but  wishes  to  "  tarry  a 
while  with  them."  For  the  present,  therefore,  he 
will  remain  in  Ephesus,  for  he  is  in  the  midst  of 
great  opportunities. 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  239 

There  is  no  mention  of  any  church  officers,  no 
deacons  and  elders.  We  learn  only  that  the  mem- 
bers of  the  house  of  Stephanas  have  set  themselves 
to  minister  unto  the  saints ;  that  is,  to  manage  the 
affairs  of  the  congregation  and  attend  to  the  vari- 
ous needs  of  the  church.  They  had  set  themselves 
to  do  this,  for  this,  too,  was  a  gift  and  not  an  office. 
Such  devotion  deserves  recognition.  Let  the  Co- 
rinthians show  them,  and  all  others  who  engage  in 
this  work,  the  proper  respect  and  due  reverence. 

What  the  effect  of  the  letter  was  we  can  only 
infer.  Apparently  it  accomplished  its  purpose,  for 
in  the  second  letter  nothing  is  said  about  any  of 
these  questions.  It  failed,  however,  in  one  point. 
It  did  not  quiet  the  opponents  of  Paul.  On  the 
contrary,  their  opposition  increased  to  such  a  pitch 
that  he  thought  it  best  to  make  a  journey  directly  to 
Corinth  without  waiting  to  go  through  Macedonia. 
He  hoped  by  going  in  person  to  be  able  to  silence 
them,  to  secure  thereby  the  recognition  of  his  apos- 
tleship  and  the  deference  due  him,  and  to  restore 
peace  to  the  congregation.  We  know  of  this  visit 
only  from  the  second  letter  to  the  Corinthians.  In 
chapter  ii.  1  he  says,  "  But  I  determined  this  for 
myself,  that  I  would  not  come  again  to  you  with 
sorrow."  That  is,  he  had  already  come  to  them 
once  with  sorrow  ;  but  that  certainly  cannot  apply 
to  the  stay  of  eighteen  months  during  his  first  mis- 
sionary journey.  In  xii.  14  he  says,  "  Behold,  this 
is  the  third  time  I  am  ready  to  come  to  you,"  and 
in  xiii.  1,  "  this  is  the  third  time  I  am  coming  to 


240    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

you,"  and  xiii.  2,  "  I  have  said  beforehand,  and  I 
do  say  beforehand,  as  when  I  was  present  the  sec- 
ond time."  Evidently,  therefore,  some  time  after 
the  writing  of  1  Corinthians  he  made  a  visit  to 
Corinth.  But  this  visit  was  by  no  means  a  success. 
The  opponents  had  been  very  bold,  and  he  had  not 
been  able  to  silence  them.  He  had  made  a  very 
poor  impression  on  them.  He  had  written  in  the 
first  letter  that  he  was  coming  to  them  shortly  and 
he  would  know  "  not  the  word  of  them  which  are 
puffed  up,  but  the  power."  And  unfortunately 
that  is  just  what  he  did  "  know,"  for  they  were  too 
strong  for  him.  They  now  had  ground  to  say  that 
his  letters  were  violent  and  blustering,  and  full  of 
threats,  but  if  he  came  in  person  he  was  weak  and 
contemptible  and  could  do  nothing  by  his  words. 
They  had  successfully  resisted  him,  and  almost  the 
whole  congregation  had  either  agreed  with  them  or 
at  least  were  very  cold  in  their  support  of  him. 
Under  these  circumstances  Paul  left  Corinth  and 
went  up  into  Macedonia,  intending  to  return  again 
to  Corinth  and  from  there  to  go  to  Jerusalem.  But 
after  reaching  Macedonia  he  changed  his  mind 
and  determined  not  to  go  back  to  Corinth.  This, 
also,  led  to  the  charge  of  fickleness  ;  he  was  a  man 
who  did  not  know  his  own  mind  (i.  15-17).  He 
now  explains  this  charge.  He  had  not  returned 
because  he  wished  to  avoid  the  "  scene  "  that  must 
necessarily  follow  between  him  and  his  opponents. 
He  had  come  to  them  with  sorrow  once,  he  would 
not  do  so  again.  The  Corinthians  had  not  treated 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF    PAUL.  241 

him  as  they  should.  His  opponents  were  bitter. 
If  he  should  return,  he  must  rebuke  them  severely. 
He  must  overcome  them. 

This  would  be  too  painful  for  them,  as  well  as 
for  himself.  So  he  determined  to  spare  them.  In- 
stead of  returning  to  Corinth  he  wrote  them  an- 
other letter  (a  third),  sharp,  severe,  which  would 
"  cause  sorrow."  "  For  though  I  made  you  sorry 
with  my  epistle,  I  do  not  regret  it,  though  I 
did  regret ;  for  I  see  that  that  epistle  made  you 
sorry,  though  but  for  a  season."  "  For  behold, 
this  selfsame  thing,  that  ye  were  made  sorry  after 
a  godly  sort,  what  earnest  care  it  wrought  in  you, 
yea,  what  clearing  of  yourselves,  yea,  what  indig- 
nation, yea,  what  fear,  yea,  what  longing,  yea,  what 
zeal,  yea,  what  avenging  !  In  everything  ye  ap- 
proved yourselves  to  be  pure  in  the  matter  "  (vii. 
8-11). 

"  For  out  of  much  affliction  and  anguish  of  heart 
I  wrote  unto  you  with  many  tears  ;  not  that  ye 
should  be  made  sorry,  but  that  ye  might  know  the 
love  which  I  have  more  abundantly  unto  you " 
(ii.  4).  Such  language  cannot  refer  to  1  Corin- 
thians, for  there  is  nothing  in  that  letter  which 
would  justify  such  words. 

Evidently  in  this  letter  he  told  them  the  plain 
truth.  It  was  a  letter  that  would  bring  about  a 
crisis.  They  must  either  right  the  wrong  they  had 
done  him,  rebuke  his  opponents  and  stand  squarely 
upon  his  side,  or  they  must  break  entirely  with 
him.  There  could  no  longer  be  any  half-way  mea- 


242    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

sures.  They  must  decide  either  for  or  against 
him. 

This  letter  he  sent  by  Titus  to  Corinth,  but  he 
himself  returned  to  Asia,  perhaps  to  Ephesus ;  but 
his  anxiety  was  so  great  that  he  soon  went  to  Troas, 
hoping  there  to  meet  Titus  with  an  answer  from 
the  Corinthians.  And  although  "  a  door  was  opened 
unto  him  in  the  Lord"  he  had  no  relief  for  his 
spirit,  because  Titus  was  not  there  (ii.  12).  He 
could  not  endure  the  suspense.  He  feared  that  the 
Corinthians  had  entirely  deserted  him.  So  he  went 
over  into  Macedonia  again,  hoping  to  meet  Titus 
there,  but  still  he  had  not  come.  His  anxiety  in- 
creased. He  was  afflicted  on  all  sides ;  without 
were  fightings,  within  were  fears.  He  wished  he 
had  not  written  them  so  sharply.  He  could  not  en- 
dure it  if  the  Corinthians  should  cast  him  off  and 
go  with  his  opponents.  The  suspense  was  intoler- 
able. But  at  last  Titus  came  with  good  news.  The 
majority  of  the  congregation  had,  at  the  critical 
moment,  been  faithful  to  him.  They  now  longed 
for  him,  they  mourned  that  they  had  offended  him, 
they  showed  great  zeal  for  him.  They  had  cleared 
themselves  of  all  blame,  by  punishing  the  principal 
offender.  The  opposition  to  him  was  put  down ;  it 
no  longer  ruled,  although  some  still  bitterly  opposed 
him  (vi.  11-13,  and  vii.  2-16). 

Filled  with  joy  at  this  news,  Paul  now  wrote  a 
fourth  letter  to  the  Corinthians  (our  2  Cor.),  which 
is  hearty,  tender,  and  thankful,  except  the  last  four 
chapters,  which  deal  with  those  who  still  opposed 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  243 

him.  This  letter  he  sent  to  Corinth  by  Titus, 
who  was  accompanied  by  two  other  brethren  (Viii. 
16-22). 

Turning  to  the  letter  itself,  we  see,  first  of  all, 
that  it  was  only  the  majority  of  the  congregation 
that  had  been  true  to  him,  and  even  their  support 
was  not  as  hearty  and  as  enthusiastic  as  he  desired. 
For  they  had  acknowledged  him  only  in  part  (i.  14). 
He  begs  them  to  lay  aside  their  coldness  to  him ; 
his  heart  is  enlarged  toward  them.  They  are  not 
straitened  in  him,  but  they  are  straitened  in  their 
own  affections ;  let  them  repay  him  by  enlarging 
their  hearts  toward  him  (vi.  11-13).  Again  he 
begs  them  to  open  their  hearts  to  him,  for  he  had 
not  wronged  any  of  them ;  he  had  taken  advantage 
of  none  of  them ;  they  are  "  in  his  heart  to  die  to- 
gether and  live  together  "  (vii.  2-4).  In  viii.  24 
he  begs  them  to  receive  Titus  and  the  two  brethren 
who  are  representatives  of  other  churches  in  such 
a  way  as  to  show  them  that  they  really  love  him 
and  are  true  to  him.  He  is  careful  to  tell  them 
all  the  good  things  he  has  been  saying  about  them ; 
among  other  things  he  has  been  boasting  to  the 
Macedonians  that  the  Corinthians  have  been  ready 
with  their  contributions  for  a  year.  Throughout 
the  letter  there  are  traces  of  this  effort  on  the 
part  of  Paul  to  smooth  over  all  the  difficulties 
and  make  them  forget  all  the  late  unpleasantness. 
That  he  is  still  under  its  shadow,  however,  and 
that  he  feels  that  he  is  treading  on  dangerous 
ground,  is  apparent  from  the  fact  that  he  more  than 


244     HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

once  corrects  himself,  after  appearing  to  have  given 
a  command,  and  says  that  he  does  not  mean  to  give 
them  orders,  but  that  he  seeks  the  proof  of  their 
love.  Thus  in  the  eighth  chapter  he  tells  them  to 
be  sure  to  abound  in  the  grace  of  giving,  for  he 
wishes  to  take  a  large  collection  to  Jerusalem ;  but 
lest  they  should  be  offended  and  say  that  he  was 
assuming  authority  over  them,  he  at  once  says,  "  I 
speak  not  by  way  of  commandment,  but  as  prov- 
ing, through  the  earnestness  of  others,  the  sincerity 
also  of  your  love." 

If  we  ask  who  were  the  originators  of  this  trouble 
in  Corinth,  we  learn  that  they  were  not  original 
members  of  the  church,  but  had  come  from  some 
other  place,  fortified  with  letters  of  recommenda- 
tion (iii.  1).  They  claimed  to  have  the  truth  in  a 
direct  way  from  Jesus,  and  apparently  laid  stress 
on  the  fact,  either  that  they  had  seen  him,  or  that 
they  were  authorized  by  some  one  who  had  stood 
very  near  to  him  while  on  earth  (x.  7). 

In  answer  to  this  Paul  says  that  it  is  not  the 
Christ  as  He  was  in  the  flesh,  but  the  Christ  that 
lives,  having  been  raised  from  the  dead,  that  has 
all  power  and  is  of  decisive  importance. 

They  were  undoubtedly  members  of  the  party  that 
was  so  zealous  for  the  law.  They  had  begun  their 
work  in  Corinth  by  attacking  Paul,  hoping  in  this 
way  to  make  the  introduction  of  the  law  easy.  The 
size  and  activity  of  this  party  may  be  inferred  from 
Paul's  language  in  chap.  ii.  17,  "  we  are  not  as  the 
many,  corrupting  the  word  of  God."  According  to 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  245 

Paul's  own  admission  this  party  in  the  church  was 
then  in  the  majority. 

But  besides  these  "foreigners,"  there  was  espe- 
cially one  member  of  the  congregation  who  had 
made  common  cause  with  them,  and  had  even  sur- 
passed them  in  violence  and  bitterness  against  Paul 
(ii.  5-11).  There  had  evidently  been  a  violent  en- 
counter between  them.  Paul  felt  himself  greatly 
injured  by  this  one,  and  in  his  letter  demanded  that 
they  punish  the  offender.  This  they  had  done.  But 
as  he  had  repented,  they  had  forgiven  him,  and 
Paul  says  that  he  also  forgives  him,  and  that  the 
penitent  one  should  now  be  restored. 

But  Paul  hints  at  other  opponents,  who  had  been 
guilty  of  grave  moral  offenses,  and  who  had  been 
unwilling  to  submit  to  the  censures  which  he  had 
passed  upon  them.  For  in  xii.  20-21,  and  xiii.  2 
he  fears  that  he  shall  find  strife,  jealousy,  wraths, 
factions,  backbiting,  whisperings,  swellings,  tu- 
mults, and  that  he  will  be  compelled  to  mourn  over 
those  who  have  sinned  and  have  not  heeded  his 
warnings  and  threats. 

The  charges  against  him  were  many  and  various. 
They  said  he  was  fickle,  changeable,  and  never 
knew  his  own  mind  (i.  17).  No  attention  was  to  be 
paid  to  him,  for  he  was  "  out  of  his  head,"  he  was 
beside  himself  (v.  13)  ;  he  was  rude  in  speech,  as 
much  as  to  say,  "  he  is  no  preacher  "  (xi.  6)  ;  his  let- 
ters were  violent  and  threatening,  but  he  was  quite 
harmless  and  meek  when  he  came  in  person  (x.  1 
and  10).  One  of  their  charges  had  especially  of- 


246    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

fended  Paul ;  they  said  he  was  a  boaster,  a  braggart, 
always  praising  and  bragging  about  himself.  That 
cut  him  to  the  quick.  He  is  continually  referring 
to  it  in  this  letter.  Whenever  he  has  said  anything 
about  himself,  he  at  once  says,  "  Do  you  think  I  am 
boasting  and  commending  myself  again  ?  "  (iii.  1, 
v.  12,  x.  18).  This  hurt  and  hemmed  him  all  the 
time,  till  finally  (xi.  16)  he  breaks  over  all  restraint 
and  says  that  since  others  (that  is,  his  opponents) 
boast,  he  will  also  boast.  Even  at  the  risk  of  ap- 
pearing to  be  a  foolish  boaster,  he  will  speak  freely 
about  himself,  for  in  his  laborings  and  sufferings, 
as  in  the  blessings  that  have  fallen  to  him,  he  is 
not  afraid  to  compare  himself  with  others.  He  ad- 
mits that  it  is  "  foolish  "  to  do  so,  but  they  have 
compelled  him  to  this ;  he  has  had  to  defend  him- 
self; the  situation  has  demanded  it,  because  the 
Corinthians  themselves  had  not  defended  him  as 
they  should  (xii.  11). 

The  fact  that  he  had  not  received  money  from 
the  Corinthians  was  used  against  him  in  a  double 
way.  It  was  said  that  that  was  a  proof  that  he  was 
not  a  genuine  apostle ;  he  had  not  the  authority 
which  belonged  to  the  others  (xi.  7).  And  on  the 
other  hand,  it  was  said  that  he  had  had  some  deep 
purpose  in  this.  He  had  not  indeed  taken  their 
money,  but  that  was  a  part  of  a  plan  by  which  he 
was  going  to  get  a  much  larger  sum  from  them. 
The  motive  that  had  controlled  him  in  this  was  not 
pure,  as  he  had  said  ;  it  was  a  shrewd,  crafty  policy, 
meant  to  deceive  them.  He  had  done  this  only  that 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  247 

when  the  time  came  he  might  easily  succeed  in  his 
nefarious  purpose.  Undoubtedly  all  this  had  refer- 
ence to  the  collection  which  he  was  causing  to  be 
made  in  all  his  churches.  It  was  a  plausible  charge, 
for  how  could  they  know  whether  Paul  really  de- 
livered all  the  money  that  was  passed  over  to  him  ? 
Paul  was  wise  enough  to  see  that  such  charges  were 
likely  to  be  made,  and  had  forestalled  them  by 
arranging  that  every  congregation  that  sent  money 
should  also  send  a  delegate  with  it,  to  see  that  their 
contribution  reached  its  destined  place.  In  the 
whole  matter  of  the  .contribution  he  had  asked  the 
churches  to  appoint  some  one  to  travel  with  him, 
"  one  whose  praise  in  the  gospel  is  known  through- 
out all  the  churches,  that  he  might  help  in  the  col- 
lection and  management  of  the  money ;  for  he  had 
determined  to  make  it  impossible  that  any  one 
should  blame  him  and  charge  him  with  dishonesty 
in  money  matters.  So  we  find  several  "  messengers 
of  the  churches  "  with  him,  a  part  of  whose  duty  it 
was  to  see  that  the  money  reached  its  destination 
(viii.  16-24).  This  throws  a  strong  side  light  on 
the  character  of  Paul. 

They  further  said  that  he  was  not  the  equal  of 
the  apostles  ;  he  was  not  a  genuine  apostle  ;  his  gos- 
pel was  false ;  he  handled  the  word  of  God  deceit- 
fully, and  his  conduct  was  full  of  guile  (xi.  5,  iv.  2). 

His  defense  is  given  with  some  bitterness,  for  he 
does  not  hesitate  to  pronounce  a  curse  on  them  and 
all  others  who  differ  from  him  in  his  conception  of 
the  gospel  (xi.  4).  He  calls  them  false  apostles, 


248     HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

deceitful  workers,  ministers  of  Satan  claiming  to  be 
apostles  of  Christ  (xi.  13—15). 

His  refutation  of  these  charges  is  his  success  and 
the  history  of  his  life.  The  Corinthians  ought  to 
know  that  he  is  an  apostle,  for  they  had  received  the 
gospel  through  him.  He  surely  did  not  need  let- 
ters of  introduction  and  recommendation  to  them ! 
It  could  not  be  necessary  for  others  to  write  to  them 
that  Paul  was  an  apostle  !  They  themselves  were 
his  letters,  the  proof  of  his  apostleship,  since  it  was 
through  him  that  they  had  believed.  His  work 
among  them  had  been  eminently  successful.  He 
had  not  been  behind  even  the  very  chiefest  of  the 
apostles.  All  the  signs  of  an  apostle  had  been 
wrought  among  them.  Let  not  the  Corinthians 
think  that  they  had  been  converted  through  the 
efforts  of  a  second-class  apostle,  for  the  same  signs 
and  wonders  and  mighty  works  had  been  performed 
among  them  as  in  other  places.  They  were  in  no 
respect  inferior  to  other  congregations.  "  And  yet 
there  is  one  point  in  which  you  are  inferior  to 
others;  I  was  not  a  burden  to  you;  I  did  not  re- 
ceive any  money  from  you,  as  other  missionaries 
received  from  their  converts.  Forgive  me  this 
wrong !  "  (xii.  12—13).  Such  keen  irony  must  have 
made  them  wince. 

All  his  missionary  life  is  also  a  proof  of  his 
apostleship,  for  he  has  suffered  more  than  any  one 
else  for  the  cause  of  Christ.  This  accounts  for  the 
fact  that  there  are  so  many  personal  reminiscences 
in  this  letter.  He  wishes  to  remind  them  of  his 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  249 

life  anil  all  the  opposition  that  he  has  endured. 
Unfortunately  the  charge  of  boastfulness  oppressed 
him,  and  he  could  not  speak  freely  of  himself  for 
fear  that  they  would  only  laugh  at  him  and  regard 
what  he  said  as  proof  of  his  boasting  spirit.  In 
spite  of  this,  however,  the  letter  is  largely  taken  up 
with  himself.  He  felt  this,  and  at  the  end  said, 
"  I  know  that  you  are  thinking  that  I  am  boasting 
all  the  time  and  excusing  myself,  and  I  admit  it ; 
but  it  is  that  I  may  strengthen  your  confidence  in 
me  and  that  you  may  be  able  to  use  this  about  me 
in  arguments  with  those  who  oppose  me  and  deny 
my  apostleship."  The  whole  letter  is  an  apology, 
a  defense  of  himself.  Read  such  passages  as  iv., 
vi.  1—10,  and  xi.  22,  if  you  would  get  an  impression 
of  the  burden  that  he  daily  bore,  and  the  dangers 
that  hourly  beset  him.  Much  of  the  letter  is  taken 
up  with  himself  and  his  work,  but  it  was  the  only 
way  to  defend  himself.  But  it  is  not  written  in  the 
spirit  of  boasting.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  wrung 
from  him  with  great  anguish  and  pain. 

Paul  kept  the  promise  which  he  had  made  to 
visit  them  soon.  From  Acts  xx.  2  we  learn  that 
he  spent  some  time  in  Macedonia.  It  is  possible 
that  he  went  further  into  the  interior,  and  even 
reached  the  borders  of  Illyricum  ;  for  in  Romans 
xv.  19  he  says  that  he  had  preached  the  gospel 
even  unto  Illyricum.  This  must  have  taken  place 
either  at  this  time  or  during  his  first  stay  in  Mace- 
donia. 

He  reached  Corinth  in  the  autumn  of  57,  where 


250    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHUECH. 

he  spent  three  months.  From  here  he  wrote  his 
letter  to  the  Romans.  The  character  of  this  letter 
is  determined  by  the  fact  that  neither  Paul  nor 
any  of  his  immediate  helpers  had  been  in  Rome. 
He  was  not  acquainted  with  them  and  hence  could 
not  write  a  personal  letter.  It  lacks  the  warm  per- 
sonal coloring  of  his  other  letters,  for  this  can 
come  only  from  intimate  acquaintance.  The  letter 
is  the  ripest  expression  of  Paul's  views  about  the 
relation  of  the  gospel  to  the  law.  In  the  struggle 
against  the  Judaizers  he  had  developed  his  argu- 
ments and  become  perfectly  clear  about  his  doc- 
trine. The  letter  is  an  attempt  to  outgeneral  the 
Judaizers,  and  win  the  Roman  church  to  his  views 
before  the  Judaizers  should  enter  the  field.  He 
determined  to  lay  his  gospel  before  them  by  letter, 
since  he  could  not  go  in  person.  He  first  shows 
that  the  Jew  through  the  teaching  of  the  law,  and 
the  Gentile  through  the  teaching  of  his  conscience, 
must  feel  that  they  are  sinners  before  God.  It  is 
impossible  to  earn  salvation.  The  only  way  to  ob- 
tain it  is  to  believe  God's  word,  and  accept  it  as 
his  free  gift  through  Jesus  Christ. 

He  excuses  himself  for  not  having  come  to  them  ; 
it  has  ever  been  his  desire  to  visit  them,  but  thus 
far  it  has  been  impossible.  For  the  present  he 
must  go  to  Jerusalem,  but  he  expects  then  to  go  to 
Spain  and  will  stop  in  Rome  on  his  way. 

After  spending  three  months  in  Corinth  he  set 
out  for  Jerusalem  in  company  with  the  various 
representatives  of  the  churches  in  charge  of  the 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  251 

contribution.  Because  of  the  plot  of  the  Jews  he 
could  not  go  by  sea,  but  returned  through  Mace- 
donia, and  sailed  from  there  just  after  the  Pass- 
over. The  account  of  the  journey  is  exact  and 
detailed,  for  it  is  taken  from  the  diary  of  one  of 
the  company.  The  movements  of  the  various  mem- 
bers of  the  company  are  described  as  only  an  eye- 
witness could  describe  them. 

The  journey  was  a  rapid  one,  for  Paul  wished  to 
be  in  Jerusalem  by  Pentecost.  On  this  account 
he  could  not  visit  Ephesus,  but  sent  for  the  prin- 
cipal members  of  the  church  to  meet  him  at  Mi- 
letus, a  port  lying  some  miles  to  the  southwest. 
After  comforting  and  warning  them,  he  continued 
his  journey.  The  two  chapters  in  which  this  is 
described  are  full  of  the  most  interesting  details, 
which  could  have  been  given  only  by  an  eye-wit- 
ness. The  journey  was  in  many  respects  a  sad 
one  for  Paul.  "  Coming  events  cast  their  shadow 
before,"  and  everywhere  Paul  was  warned  that 
dangers  awaited  him  at  Jerusalem.  Even  before 
he  left  Corinth  he  had  been  conscious  that  the 
Jews  and  Jewish  Christians  in  Palestine  would 
do  all  in  their  power  to  destroy  him.  All  along 
the  way  prophets  raised  warning  voices,  forbidding 
him  "  through  the  Spirit"  to  enter  Jerusalem.  In 
every  city  the  Holy  Spirit  testified  that  bonds  and 
afflictions  were  in  store  for  him  there.  But  he  was 
not  to  be  disturbed  by  these  things.  Nothing  can 
more  clearly  show  how  bitter  was  the  hatred  of 
the  Jews  and  Jewish  Christians  to  Paul,  than  the 


252    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

fact  that  everywhere  the  opinion  prevailed  that  he 
could  not  safely  venture  into  Jerusalem.  At  Caes- 
area  they  were  the  guests  of  Philip  the  Evangelist, 
also  one  of  the  seven,  whose  four  daughters  were 
prophetesses. 

From  here  they  took  up  their  luggage  and  went 
up  to  Jerusalem  in  company  with  some  of  the 
Christians  from  Csesarea,  and  one  of  the  early  con- 
verts, Mnason  of  Cyprus,  with  whom  they  were  to 
lodge  in  Jerusalem. 

The  very  next  day  Paul  with  his  companions 
visited  James  and  the  principal  members  of  the 
church,  and  told  of  his  labors  among  the  Gentiles. 
With  this  they  were  well  pleased,  but  they  could 
not  assure  Paul  that  it  would  be  so  acceptable  to 
all  as  it  was  to  them.  They  called  his  attention  to 
the  fact  that  there  were  many  thousands  of  believ- 
ing Jews,  but  they  were  still  zealous  for  the  law. 
And  these  were  informed  that  Paul  had  been 
teaching  the  Jews  to  disregard  the  law,  and  were 
consequently  very  angry  at  him.  In  other  words, 
Paul  was  in  danger  from  the  Christians  in  Jeru- 
salem as  well  as  from  the  unbelieving  Jews.  It  was 
impossible  that  they  should  not  learn  of  Paul's 
arrival ;  it  was  necessary,  therefore,  to  take  such 
measures  as  would  prevent  their  doing  any  violence 
to  him.  There  were  four  men  at  hand  who  had  a 
vow  upon  them,  and  Paul  was  asked  to  join  them 
in  this  and  show  his  fidelity  to  the  law  by  paying 
the  costs  which  attended  the  completion  of  the 
vow.  It  seems  strange  that  a  man  who  had  writ- 


THE  BEST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  253 

ten  the  letters  to  the  Galatians,  the  Corinthians, 
and  the  Romans  could  have  seen  his  way  clear  to 
take  part  in  this  matter,  but  the  author  of  the 
Acts  tells  us  that  he  did.  It  looks  to  us  very  much 
like  deception  on  his  part,  but  undoubtedly  he  felt 
that  it  was  entirely  in  accordance  with  his  princi- 
ple, to  become  all  things  to  all  men  that  he  might 
win  some  to  Christ.  Or  shall  we  say  that  it  is 
impossible  that  Paul  should  have  engaged  in  such 
questionable  conduct,  and  therefore  the  author  of 
the  Acts  has  not  given  us  a  correct  account  of  this 
occurrence  ?  It  must  be  noted  that  the  Christians 
here  appear  in  the  temple,  which  is  still  the  centre 
of  their  religious  life.  They  are  still  Jews,  and 
have  not  separated  themselves  from  those  who  re- 
fuse to  accept  Jesus  as  the  Messiah. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  LAST  YEARS  OF  PAUL. 

WHILE  in  Ephesus  the  plots  of  the  Jews  had 
caused  him  much  trouble  and  suffering,  and  al- 
though he  had  left  that  city  he  could  not  escape 
their  hostility.  It  was  some  Jews  from  Ephesus 
that  caused  his  arrest.  When  they  saw  him  in  the 
temple  they  gathered  a  mob,  seized  Paul,  and  were 
about  to  make  an  end  of  him,  when  the  captain  of 
the  Roman  troops,  stationed  at  Jerusalem,  rescued 
him.  He  was  taking  him  into  the  castle  as  a  pris- 
oner, to  find  out  what  the  charges  against  him 
were,  when,  to  his  surprise,  Paul  spoke  to  him  in 
Greek.  He  had  thought  that  he  was  a  certain 
Egyptian  who  not  long  before  this  had  gathered 
together  a  band  of  four  thousand  Sicarii,  or  dag- 
germen.  These  were  most  bitter  opponents  of 
everything  that  was  Roman.  They  carried  short 
daggers  concealed  under  their  robes,  and  managed 
to  stab  their  enemies  while  they  were  surrounded 
by  crowds,  so  that  they  could  not  be  detected. 
Four  thousand  of  these  were  brought  together,  and 
with  them  the  Egyptian  leader  attempted  to  over- 
throw the  Roman  government.  In  the  battle  which 
followed  they  were  nearly  all  slain,  but  the  leader  es- 


THE  LAST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  255 

caped.  The  governor  thought  he  had  captured  thjs 
leader  in  the  person  of  Paul.  But  when  quiet  was 
restored,  Paul  began  to  speak  to  the  crowds,  most 
of  whom  knew  nothing  of  the  cause  of  the  disturb- 
ance. They  listened  till  he  began  to  tell  them 
that  he  had  been  sent  to  preach  to  the  Gentiles, 
when  his  voice  was  drowned  by  their  shouts  de- 
manding his  death.  The  captain  ordered  him  to 
be  scourged,  in  order  to  compel  him  to  confess, 
when  Paul  informed  him  that  he  was  a  Roman 
citizen. 

His  trial  was  set*  for  the  next  day  before  the 
Sanhedrin.  In  the  midst  of  the  trial  Paul  discov- 
ered that  there  were  both  Sadducees  and  Pharisees 
in  the  council,  and  very  shrewdly  set  them  against 
each  other  by  declaring  that  the  whole  question 
was  simply  in  regard  to  the  resurrection  of  the 
dead.  By  this  means  he  introduced  strife  among 
his  opponents,  and  so  escaped.  The  strife  about 
him  waged  so  warmly,  however,  that  the  captain 
feared  he  would  be  torn  in  pieces,  so  he  took  him 
back  to  the  castle.  Because  of  a  plot  to  assassi- 
nate him  the  captain  sent  him  to  Caesarea  to  the 
governor,  Felix,  and  told  his  accusers  they  should 
appear  before  him  with  their  charges.  After  five 
days  the  high  priest  and  some  of  the  elders  came 
to  Caesarea,  bringing  with  them  an  orator,  or  as  we 
would  say,  a  lawyer,  to  plead  their  case.  This  ora- 
tor, Tertullus,  began  his  speech  with  words  of  flat- 
tery for  the  proconsul,  for  then  as  now  the  prin- 
cipal effort  was  not  to  get  at  the  truth  in  the  trials. 


256     HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

but  to  win  the  jury.  In  this  case  it  was  the  good 
will  of  the  proconsul  that  was  to  be  won,  and  both 
parties  had  only  good  words  for  Felix.  But  Felix 
was  won  by  neither  party.  He  put  off  the  decision 
until  Lysias,  the  captain  at  Jerusalem,  should 
come.  In  the  mean  time  he  kept  Paul  in  safety, 
allowing  him  to  see  his  friends  and  receive  their 
care  and  attention.  His  conduct  shows  that  he 
had  some  conscience,  but  no  character.  At  times 
he  listened  to  the  gospel  from  Paul's  lips,  but  was 
never  quite  ready  to  believe.  At  other  times  he 
was  willing  to  favor  the  Jews,  or  at  least  unwilling 
to  displease  them,  so  he  kept  Paul  a  prisoner. 
Again,  his  cupidity  showed  itself,  for  he  hoped 
that  he  might  get  a  part  of  the  contribution  which 
Paul  had  brought  up  to  Jerusalem. 

In  the  account  of  all  this  it  is  very  strange  that 
not  a  word  is  said  about  any  effort  on  the  part  of 
James  and  the  Christians  in  Jerusalem  to  deliver 
Paul.  They  do  not  appear  in  any  way  as  his  de- 
fenders or  even  as  his  friends. 

For  two  years  he  was  kept  in  prison.  It  must 
have  come  as  a  much-needed  vacation,  for  the  years 
of  restless  activity  and  suffering  had  almost  worn 
him  out.  In  the  spring  of  60  Felix  was  succeeded 
by  Festus,  who,  on  his  arrival  at  Palestine,  at  once 
went  up  to  Jerusalem.  The  Jews  laid  another  plot 
against  the  life  of  Paul,  but  Festus  ordered  them 
to  appear  before  him  in  Ca3sarea,  if  they  had  any 
charges  to  make  against  him.  They  came,  charg- 
ing him  with  being  a  transgressor  of  their  laws  and 


THE  LAST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  257 

a  political  offender  against  Rome.  He  was  said  to 
be  speaking  against  Caesar  by  setting  up  another 
king,  Jesus.  It  was  very  necessary  for  Festus,  who 
had  just  come  into  the  country,  to  get  the  good- will 
of  the  Jews.  So  he  was  willing  to  favor  them.  He 
was  about  to  give  Paul  up  to  be  judged  by  them 
according  to  their  laws.  Paul  knew  that  'that  of 
course  meant  death,  so  he  now  at  last  made  use 
of  his  right  of  Roman  citizenship  and  appealed  to 
Caesar ;  that  is,  he  claimed  the  right  to  appear  in 
person  before  the  Emperor  Nero  to  be  tried  by 
him.  That  was  the  only  way  to  escape.  Festus 
was  willing  to  sacrifice  him  to  gain  the  good-will 
of  the  Jews.  His  only  hope  was  in  Nero.  Besides, 
he  had  long  been  looking  longingly  toward  Rome, 
and  even  though  a  prisoner  he  felt  that  he  could 
yet  accomplish  something  there,  and  he  hoped,  too, 
that  he  would  thereby  be  freed  from  the  plots  of 
the  Jews. 

In  the  days  of  his  residence  at  Csesarea,  Festus 
was  visited  by  Agrippa  II.,  King  of  Iturea,  Ba- 
tanea,  and  Abilene  (50-100  A.  D.),  who  came  to 
congratulate  him  on  his  accession  to  the  high  office. 
He  was  accompanied  by  his  wife,  who  was  also  his 
sister.  They  came  in  great  pomp,  and  were  re- 
ceived with  honor.  During  their  stay  Festus  re- 
membered that  he  had  a  strange  prisoner,  and 
thought  to  add  to  the  festivities  of  the  occasion 
by  making  a  show  of  Paul.  The  case  was  a  puz- 
zling one,  for  he  could  not  understand  the  moral 
earnestness  of  Paul  or  the  animosity  of  the  Jews. 


258    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

Paul  was  brought  before  them  and  was  told  that 
he  might  speak  for  himself. 

True  to  his  character  Paul  began  with  the  most 
polite  and  deferential  forms  of  address.  Again  he 
told  the  story  of  his  life,  and  grew  eloquent  as  he 
spoke  of  his  Master.  But  Festus  was  unmoved. 
He  saw  in  Paul  only  an  old  man  whose  head  was 
addled  by  long  disputing  about  trifling  questions 
concerning  the  law.  In  the  midst  of  Paul's  address 
he  called  out  "  Paul,  Paul,  you  are  crazy,"  and  at- 
tempted thus  to  end  the  interview.  Paul  knew  that 
Festus  was  a  Roman,  but  he  hoped  he  might  have 
had  better  success  with  Agrippa,  who  was  a  Jew. 
So  he  turned  to  him  with  an  appealing  question  : 
"  I  am  not  mad,  most  excellent  Festus  ;  but  speak 
forth  words  of  truth  and  soberness.  For  the  king 
knoweth  of  these  things,  unto  whom  also  I  speak 
freely :  for  I  am  persuaded  that  none  of  these  things 
is  hidden  from  him ;  for  this  hath  not  been  done  in 
a  corner.  King  Agrippa,  believest  thou  the  pro- 
phets? I  know  that  thou  believest."  But  Agrippa 
was  in  the  presence  of  a  Roman  who  was  ridicul- 
ing Paul  and  had  no  sympathy  for  either  Judaism 
or  Christianity.  He  did  not  wish  to  expose  him- 
self to  the  same  ridicule,  so  he  gave  an  evasive  an- 
swer, "  You  think  you  can  make  me  a  Christian 
with  little  argument ;  "  that  is,  "  you  think  it  will 
be  an  easy  matter  to  convince  me."  The  language 
is  non-committal  and  ambiguous.  Their  meaning 
depends  altogether  on  how  the  words  were  spoken. 
Seeing  that  the  opportunity  for  further  speech 


THE  LAST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  259 

was  gone,  Paul  called  out :  "  I  wish  that  all  meu, 
whether  with  little  or  great  difficulty,  were  brought 
to  be  Christians  as  I  am."  But  remembering  that 
he  was  in  chains,  he  quickly  added  in  a  half-play- 
ful way,  "  except  that  I  would  not  wish  to  see  them 
in  bonds  as  I  am." 

Agrippa  expressed  it  as  his  opinion  that  Paul 
might  have  been  set  free,  but  since  he  had  appealed 
to  Caesar,  to  Caesar  he  must  go.  The  details  of  the 
voyage  are  given  by  one  who  saw  them.  It  is  de- 
scribed with  some  fullness  and  accuracy,  and  much 
of  our  knowledge  of  the  technical  terms  of  ancient 
navigation  is  derived  from  this  description.  The 
voyage  was  begun  in  the  autumn  of  60,  but  so  late 
that  the  sea  was  already  dangerous.  The  storms 
overtook  them  and  they  were  shipwrecked  on  the 
isle  of  Melita,  which  is  the  famous  Malta  of  the 
middle  ages.  After  spending  three  months  there 
they  again  sailed,  and  safely  reached  Puteoli  near 
Naples.  Here  there  were  Christians  who  cared  for 
Paul  in  every  way  possible  during  his  brief  stay 
there.  Soon  he  began  the  long  journey  on  foot  to 
Rome.  Some  df  the  Christian  brethren  in  the  city 
had  been  informed  of  his  coming  and  went  out  to 
meet  him.  At  the  forum  of  Appius,  forty-three 
miles  from  Rome,  a  company  of  Christians  cheered 
him  with  a  warm  welcome,  and  at  the  Three  Tav- 
erns, ten  miles  nearer  the  city,  still  another  little 
band  came  to  meet  him,  and  filled  his  heart  with 
good  courage.  It  was  a  great  relief  to  him  to  find 
the  Roman  Christians  so  interested  in  him.  For 


260     HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

three  years  he  had  been  in  prison,  and  during  all 
this  time  the  Judaizers  had  been  carrying  on  their 
missionary  efforts.  He  did  not  know  but  that  all 
his  work  was  destroyed,  and  that  they  had  tri- 
umphed everywhere.  No  wonder  then  that  he 
thanked  God  and  took  courage  when  he  found  that 
the  brethren  in  Rome  were  still  so  interested  in  and 
attached  to  him  that  they  would  come  so  far  to 
meet  and  greet  him. 

True  to  his  principle  he  first  tried  to  reach  the 
Jews.  He  asked  many  of  them  to  come  to  see 
him  and  made  known  his  gospel  to  them,  but  with 
only  moderate  success.  From  the  nature  of  his 
case  he  was  not  housed  with  the  criminals,  but  was 
put  into  the  hands  of  the  Prsstorian  Guard  until 
such  time  as  it  should  please  Nero  to  listen  to  his 
appeal.  For  two  years  he  waited,  enjoying  the 
privilege  of  living  in  a  hired  house  where  he  could 
receive  his  friends  and  carry  on  the  work  so  dear 
to  his  heart.  But  the  prisoner's  chain  was  upon 
him  day  and  night.  He  was  bound  to  soldiers  who 
relieved  each  other  at  regular  intervals. 

There  are  four  letters  in  the  New  -Testament  that 
are  attributed  to  Paul,  which  were  written  during 
this  period  of  imprisonment  in  Rome :  the  letters 
to  the  Ephesians,  to  the  Philippians,  to  the  Colos- 
sians,  and  to  Philemon.  But  the  genuineness  of 
the  letter  to  the  Ephesians  is  questioned  by  a  great 
many.  For  our  purpose  it  matters  very  little 
whether  it  was  written  by  Paul  or  not,  for  it  lacks 
local  color,  and  we  learn  almost  nothing  of  the  con. 


THE  LAST  YEABS  OF  PAUL.  261 

dition  of  the  writer  or  of  the  church  or  churches  to 
which  it  is  addressed. 

In  i.  15  the  people  are  praised  for  their  general 
faithfulness  in  time  of  danger.  In  chapters  iii.  and 
iv.  there  are  some  references  to  the  Gnostic  ideas 
that  were  beginning  to  become  prevalent.  In  sev- 
eral places  there  are  indications  that  the  author  is 
a  prisoner,  and  it  is  said  that  Tychicus  will  carry 
the  letter  to  them  and  tell  them  more  about  his 
condition. 

The  letter  to  the  Philippians  is  one  of  thanks. 
They  had  more  than  once  given  him  money,  and 
now  that  he  was  in  prison  they  remembered  that 
he  would  probably  be  in  need  and  so  sent  one  of 
their  number,  Epaphras,  with  another  gift.  Evi- 
dently Paul's  condition  seemed  to  Epaphras  a  hard 
one.  In  his  zeal  to  do  something  for  him  he  exposed 
himself  and  in  consequence  fell  dangerously  ill  (ii. 
25-30).  This  became  known  to  the  Philippians, 
and  they  now  had  a  double  trouble.  Not  only  the 
situation  of  Paul  weighed  upon  them.  They  feared 
also  that  their  brother  Epaphras  would  die.  But 
he  recovered,  and  as  soon  as  he  was  able,  Paul  sent 
him  back  and  with  him  this  letter.  It  has  been 
called  a  letter  of  rejoicing.  But  in  spite  of  the 
many  exhortations  to  rejoice,  an  infinite  sadness  and 
touching  resignation  pervade  it.  His  situation  was 
distressing,  but  with  the  true  Christian  spirit  he 
was  able  to  get  comfort  out  of  it  all.  He  thanks 
them  for  their  gift,  but  will  not  speak  of  his  want, 
for  he  had  learned  (literally,  "  he  had  been  initiated 


262    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

into  the  mystery  ")  to  be  content  in  any  condition. 
He  feels  that  life  is  hanging  heavily  upon  him  and 
wishes  that  it  were,  ended.  His  heart  is  sore  and 
bitter  at  the  success  of  the  Judaizing  Christians, 
whom  he  calls  "  dogs,  evil  workei-s,"  and  "  enemies 
of  the  cross  of  Christ."  Evidently  that  faction 
in  the  church  was  still  laboring  with  great  zeal  to 
compel  the  Gentile  Christians  to  observe  the  law, 
and  that  was  a  great  trial  to  Paul. 

Besides,  there  was  strife  in  the  church  at  Rome. 
There  was  rivalry  between  some  of  the  leaders  and 
Paul.  They  were  envious  of  his  popularity,  and 
were  preaching  Christ  in  a  factional  spirit,  trying 
to  surpass  him  in  success  and  popularity.  It  grieved 
him,  but  he  felt  no  envy.  It  seemed  to  him  that 
everything  brought  him  trouble.  But  in  one  thing 
at  least  God  had  been  merciful  to  him;  he  had 
spared  the  life  of  Epaphras  that  "  I  might  not  have 
sorrow  upon  sorrow."  And  he  desires  them  to 
rejoice,  that  he  may  have  a  share  in  their  gladness, 
and  so  be  less  sorrowful.  He  bids  others  rejoice. 
He  declares  that  he  himself  is  rejoicing,  but  it  is 
clear  that  he  was  almost  overwhelmed  by  sorrows 
and  difficulties.  There  was  almost  nothing  in  his 
situation  to  cheer  and  gladden  him. 

The  letter  to  the  Colossians  is  interesting,  and 
at  the  same  time  difficult,  because  of  the  references 
to  the  Gnosticism  of  the  day,  which  was  beginning 
to  appear  in  the  churches.  This  was  a  philosophi- 
cal system  of  theology.  It  undertook  to  explain 
and  define  God,  creation,  sin,  and  redemption.  It 


THE  LAST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  263 

was  at  the  same  time  a  philosophy,  a  theology,  and 
a  religion.  God  was  regarded  as  an  infinite,  in- 
definable, impassive  spirit,  so  ethereal  and  fine  that 
anything  that  is  pure  matter  could  have  no  con- 
nection with  Him.  He  is  the  source  of  all  good, 
while  matter  is  the  source  and  seat  of  all  evil. 
The  great  question  which  troubled  them  was, 
How  can  God  who  is  spirit  and  good  create  the 
world  of  matter,  which  is  evil  ?  An  infinite  chasm 
separates  between  God  and  matter.  How  can 
this  be  bridged  ?  Can  God  be  brought  into  con- 
nection with  evil?  How  is  creation  possible? 
Their  answer  was  as  follows :  God  began  the  work 
of  creation  by  producing  from  himself  a  creature 
only  a  little  less  fine  in  substance  than  himself, 
and  from  this  He  then  caused  another  to  emanate, 
which  was  still  a  little  less  fine,  and  from  this 
another,  and  so  on  until  He  had  at  last  produced 
one  which  was  so  coarse  in  substance  that  it  could 
produce  the  world  of  matter.  This  one  then 
created  the  world.  These  numerous  creatures  were 
all  divided  into  certain  ranks,  and  such  names  as 
"powers,  and  principalities,  and  thrones"  were 
applied  to  the  various  grades.  When  people,  who 
believed  in  these,  heard  of  Christ  and  believed  in 
him,  one  of  the  first  questions  which  confronted 
them  was,  Where  is  Christ's  place  in  this  system  ? 
To  what  rank  does  he  belong  ?  These  questions 
were  much  discussed  and  variously  answered.  It 
was  to  guard  against  error  that  Paul  wrote  to  the 
Colossians  that  "Christ  is  the  image  of  the  in- 


264     HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

visible  God,  the  firstborn  of  all  creation;  for  in 
him  were  all  things  created  in  the  heavens  and 
upon  the  earth,  things  visible  and  things  invisible, 
whether  thrones,  or  dominions,  or  principalities,  or 
powers;  all  things  have  been  created  in  him 
and  unto  him,  and  he  is  before  all  things,  and  in 
him  all  things  consist."  Paul  says,  no  matter  how 
many  angels  and  powers  and  the  like  you  believe 
there  are,  Christ  is  above  them  all. 

But  people  were  'at  the  same  time  seeking  the 
way  of  redemption.  They  were  asking  how  they 
might  be  delivered  from  evil  and  sin.  From  their 
idea  of  the  character  and  seat  of  sin,  the  answer 
was  not  difficult.  The  flesh  is  the  seat  of  sin  ;  the 
spirit  is  sinless,  except  as  it  is  contaminated  by  its 
contact  with  matter.  To  get  rid  of  sin  therefore 
one  must  get  rid  of  one's  body.  To  do  so  and 
live  was  of  course  impossible,  but  one  must  come 
just  as  near  to  this  as  possible.  That  led  to 
asceticism.  One  must  fast  and  scourge  his  body. 
"  Touch  not,  taste  not,  handle  not "  was  the 
common  motto  of  many,  as  if  they  could  be  pol- 
luted by  anything  external.  Paul  has  to  remind 
them  again  that  Christianity  does  not  consist  in 
such  things,  but  rather  in  a  heart  right  before  God. 
This  is  the  belief  which  made  asceticism  and  mo- 
nasticism  possible.  Unfortunately,  Paul's  rebuke 
of  it  was  not  able  to  destroy  it.  It  has  colored 
the  belief  and  practice  of  the  church  ever  since. 

Philemon  was  a  resident  of  Colossse,  who  had 
been  converted  by  Paul.  Onesimus,  his  slave, 


THE  LAST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  265 

after  committing  some  crime,  which  is  hinted  at  in 
the  letter,  ran  away  and  went  to  Rome  as  the  place 
where  he  could  most  easily  escape  detection.  In 
some  way  he  had  been  brought  into  contact  with 
Paul,  from  whom  he  heard  the  gospel.  After 
having  brought  him  to  a  belief  in  Jesus,  Paul  sent 
him  back  to  his  former  master  with  this  letter. 
It  is  a  charming  one,  which  shows  that  Paul  was 
truly  human  and  not  above  making  a  pun.  Onesi- 
mus  means  "  profitable,"  and  Paul  easily  makes  a 
play  on  the  word.  It  is  as  if  he  had  written  "Thy 
servant  Profitable,  who  was  formerly  Unprofitable, 
but  now  Profitable  to  thee  and  to  me."  Paul  says 
he  would  have  been  glad  to  keep  Onesimus,  since 
he  needed  the  services  of  some  one,  but  he  felt  it 
would  have  been  presuming  on  the  generosity  of 
Philemon.  According  to  the  law  a  master  could 
inflict  whatever  punishment  he  chose  on  a  runaway 
slave.  But  Paul  makes  great  demands  for  friend- 
ship's sake.  He  begs  Philemon  to  receive  him  as 
he  would  himself ;  not  as  a  runaway  slave,  but  as 
a  beloved  brother.  He  also  promises  to  make  good 
whatever  Philemon  has  lost  through  Onesimus. 
There  is  nothing  said  about  freeing  the  slave,  but 
he  is  to  be  treated  as  a  brother. 

This  is  in  accordance  with  what  Paul  elsewhere 
says  of  slavery.1  Nothing  else  would  have  more 
quickly  put  all  the  upper  classes  in  opposition  to 
Christianity  than  the  announcement  that  it  de- 
manded that  all  slaves  should  be  set  free.  Not 

1  1  Cor.  vii.  20,  21 ;  Col.  iv.  1 ;  1  Tim.  L  2,  and  elsewhere. 


266     HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

only  Paul,  but  also  all  the  writers  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament saw  this  great  danger.  When  in  Corinth 
the  slaves  began  to  agitate  the  question  of  free- 
dom, Paul  wrote  them  that  even  if  they  had  the 
opportunity  to  become  free  they  should  rather  re- 
main slaves,  since  before  God  they  were  free.  But 
he  marked  out  lines  of  conduct  for  both  master 
and  slave  which  would  have  reduced  the  evils  of 
slavery  to  a  minimum.  It  was  all-important  that 
the  true  character  of  Christianity  should  be  known. 
It  changes  society,  not  by  violent  upheavals  and 
revolutions,  not  by  clearing  away  all  the  existing 
relations  and  introducing  new  ones  made  to  order, 
but  by  changing  the  hearts  of  men.  No  change  of 
the  physical  or  social  conditions  of  men  will  make 
them  better.  The  change  must  work  from  within 
outward.  Christianity  was  meant  to  sanctify  all 
relations  and  positions  in  life  by  filling  the  heart 
with  Christian  love  and  love  to  God. 

Although  in  prison,  Paul  was  surrounded  by 
some  of  his  helpers.  He  is  sure  that  he  is  about 
to  be  set  free.  So  great  is  his  confidence  of  this 
that  he  asks  Philemon  to  prepare  him  a  lodging  in 
Colossae,  for  he  intends  to  go,  not  to  Spain,  but  to 
the  East. 

This  brings  us  to  the  spring  of  the  year  63.  Paul 
was  in  prison,  but  he  expected  to  be  set  free  soon, 
and  was  intending  to  go  to  the  East.  His  trial 
was  not  over,  but  he  was  sure  that  it  would  end  in 
his  favor.  But  did  it  ?  There  are  some  who  say 
that  he  was  never  set  free,  but  that  he  suffered  death 


THE  LAST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  267 

at  the  hands  of  Nero.  But  it  is  more  probable 
that  he  was  not  put  to  death  at  this  time.  His 
cause  had  progressed  so  favorably  that  he  was  con- 
fident that  he  would  be  set  at  liberty.  It  must  be 
noted  again  that  this  was  in  the  spring  of  63,  but 
the  persecution  under  Nero  did  not  take  place  till 
August  of  64.  Besides,  the  letter  to  Timothy  and 
to  Titus  cannot  easily  be  located  unless  Paul  was 
released.1  We  conclude,  then,  that  Paul  was  re- 
leased in  the  spring  of  63.  It  is  impossible  to  fol- 
low him  with  any  degree  of  certainty  from  this 
time  on.  It  had  been  his  desire  and  intention  to 
go  to  Spain,  but  we  are  not  sure  that  he  did  so. 
There  are  two  witnesses  to  this  journey  which  seem 
to  make  it  very  probable  that  he  actually  made  it. 

The  first  of  these  is  the  so-called  first  letter  of 
Clement  of  Rome.  In  a  somewhat  rhetorical  pas- 
sage he  reminds  the  Corinthians  that  Paul  had 
taught  the  whole  world  and  had  gone  to  the  "  limit 
of  the  West."  These  words  can  hardly  be  under- 
stood to  mean  anything  else  than  that  Paul  had 
gone  to  Spain,  which  was  commonly  called  the 
"  limit  of  the  West."  It  would  be  very  strange  if 
a  Roman  should  speak  of  Rome  as  the  "  limit "  of 
the  West. 

The  other  witness  is  the  so-called  Muratorian 
fragment,  which  speaks  of  the  departure  of  Paul 

1  These  letters  are  seriously  questioned  in  nearly  every  quarter 
to-day,  but  there  are  certain  parts  of  them  that  are  genuine  be- 
yond all  doubt.  Nearly  all  of  even  the  most  radical  critics  admit 
this. 


268   HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

from  the  city  (Rome)  for  Spain.  No  other  church 
writers  of  the  first  centuries  give  any  proof  of  this 
journey,  and  some  even  make  sport  of  it,  but  it  is 
certainly  made  probable  by  the  testimony  of  these 
two  good  witnesses. 

From  the  letter  to  Titus  we  get  very  little  infor- 
mation. It  is  said  that  Paul  and  Titus  had  been 
in  Crete,  where  Titus  had  been  left  to  do  certain 
work.  Paul  himself  was  going  to  winter  in  Nico- 
polis,  but  there  were  so  many  cities  of  that  name 
that  it  is  impossible  to  say  which  one  is  meant. 

From  1  Timothy  we  learn  that  Paul  and  Tim- 
othy had  been  in  Ephesus,  where  Paul  had  left  his 
companion  and  gone  on  to  Macedonia,  where  he 
expects  to  remain  only  for  a  short  time,  and  then 
will  return  again  to  Ephesus.  We  learn,  too,  that 
danger  was  threatening  the  Christians  from  the 
civil  authorities.  The  rulers  were  disturbing  them, 
but  these  were  not  to  be  cursed,  but  to  be  prayed 
for  that  the  Christians  might  not  be  troubled  by 
them.  Reference  is  also  made  to  the  Gnostic  ideas, 
and  it  is  said  that  some  were  making  gain  out  of 
Christianity,  —  swindlers,  practicing  on  the  credu- 
lity of  the  brethren. 

When  2  Timothy  was  written  Paul  was  a  pris- 
oner in  Rome.  From  this  letter  the  probable 
course  of  events  may  be  made  out  as  follows :  from 
iv.  13  we  learn  that  Paul  had  been  in  Troas,  where 
he  had  left  his  winter  cloak  and  some  parchments. 
From  what  follows  it  is  probable  that  this  was  on 
his  way  to  Ephesus,  where  he  had  been  arrested. 


THE  LAST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  269 

Alexander  the  coppersmith,  of  iv.  16,  is  to  be  iden- 
tified with  the  Alexander  of  Acts  xix.  33.  Paul 
had  been  arrested  and  had  had  a  trial,  during  which 
he  was  deserted  by  all  his  Christian  friends.  They 
had  left  him  to  his  fate.  This  points  to  a  different 
condition  of  affairs.  It  is  now  dangerous  to  con- 
fess Christianity  or  to  be  known  as  a  friend  of  its 
great  missionary.  Paul  was  bound  and  treated  as 
a  malefactor  because  he  was  a  Christian  (ii.  9). 
Even  Demas  had  not  had  the  courage  to  remain 
with  Paul.  He  had  not  become  an  apostate,  but  was 
afraid  to  face  the  danger  of  death.  Crescens  and 
Titus  were  gone,  but  we  cannot  tell  whether  Paul 
blames  them  or  not.  But  Onesiphorus  made  a 
brilliant  exception  to  the  general  cowardice  in 
Ephesus.  He  had  cared  for  Paul  and  done  all  he 
could  for  him,  in  spite  of  the  dangers  that  threat- 
ened ;  all  the  rest  might  turn  away  and  desert  the 
once  popular  preacher,  but  Onesiphorus  remained 
faithful.  He  even  followed  Paul  to  Rome  and 
there  sought  through  all  the  prisons  till  he  found 
him  and  ministered  to  him  there  also. 

Paul  felt  this  desertion  keenly.  It  is  impossible 
not  to  feel  the  pathos  of  the  words,  "  Only  Luke 
is  with  me."  He  knows  that  his  race  is  run. 
"  Dying  with  Christ,"  which  had  so  long  been  his 
favorite  figure  of  speech,  is  about  to  become  a  real- 
ity. Of  the  end  there  can  be  little  doubt.  There 
is  a  strong  and  steady  tradition  that  he  was  be- 
headed in  Rome.  In  later  times  this  was  greatly 
embellished  and  added  to,  but  there  is  no  good 


270     HISTOEY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHUKOT. 

reason  for  doubting  the  fact.  Clement  of  Home,  i:i 
the  letter  to  the  Corinthians  (about  96  A.  D.),  takes 
it  for  granted  that  Paul  had  suffered  martyrdom  in 
Koine.  About  200  A.  D.  Calus  declares  that  the 
totnb  of  Paul  was  to  be  seen  on  the  Ostian  Way, 
just  outside  of  Rome.  The  testimony  of  several 
others  might  also  be  quoted. 

The  death  of  Paul  ends  for  us  the  apostolic  age. 
With  this  event  we  leave  sure  history  for  the  un- 
certain and  conflicting  traditions,  which  have  been 
made  more  doubtful  by  the  doubts  which  careful 
and  thoughtful  as  well  as  biased  historians  have 
cast  upon  them.  It  will  be  well,  however,  for  the 
sake  of  completeness  to  add  what  is  most  probable 
in  regard  to  the  other  disciples.  They  may  be  dis- 
missed with  a  few  words,  because  so  little  is  known 
of  them,  and  it  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  book  to 
discuss  theories  and  suppositions. 

Of  nine  of  the  twelve  we  have  absolutely  no  au- 
thentic information,  but  a  learned  German  professor 
has  collected  three  large  volumes  of  the  stories  that 
were  told  about  them  during  the  Middle  Ages. 

James,  the  brother  of  John,  was  slain  by  Herod 
in  the  year  44. 

The  life  of  Peter  was  one  of  progress.  His  de- 
velopment has  already  been  indicated  in  what  has 
been  said  of  his  relations  to  Paul  and  to  the  Juda- 
izers.  We  can  trace  it  in  the  narratives  about  his 
preaching  to  Cornelius,  the  Council  at  Jerusalem, 
his  conduct  at  Antioch,  and  his  preaching  at  Cor- 
inth. 


THE  LAST  YEARS  OF  PAUL.  271 

There  is  good  evidence  that  he  also  ended  his  life 
by  martyrdom  at  Rome.  In  the  Gospel  of  John 
(xxi.  18-23)  Christ  is  said  to  have  foretold  his  im- 
prisonment, and  the  author  of  this  gospel  under- 
stood it  to  refer  to  his  death.  The  account  was  writ- 
ten long  after  Peter's  death,  so  we  may  be  sure  that 
this  also  agreed  with  the  real  history  of  his  end. 
Clement  of  Rome  also  speaks  of  his  martyrdom,  and 
connects  him  with  those  who  suffered  death  under 
Nero.  Ignatius,  the  Chronicles  of  Phlegon,  Papias, 
Dionysius  of  Corinth,  Irenaeus,  Tertullian,  and 
Caius,  all  of  the  second  century,  bear  witness  to  the 
fact  that  Peter  had  been  in  Rome,  and  was  in  a 
peculiar  way  connected  with  the  church  there. 
Dogmatic  reasons  have  caused  many  Protestant 
writers  to  declare  that  he  was  never  in  Rome.  But 
the  weight  of  testimony  is  against  them,  and  it  may 
be  accepted  as  a  well-founded  fact  that  Peter  suf- 
fered martyrdom  in  Rome,  probably  in  the  last 
years  of  Nero. 

The  course  of  the  life  of  the  Apostle  John  is 
veiled  in  obscurity.  The  tradition  which  has  most 
for  itself  is  to  the  effect  that  after  the  death  of 
Peter  and  Paul  he  removed  to  Asia  Minor  and 
settled  in  Ephesus,  where  he  died  at  a  great  age. 
He  is  said  to  have  been  at  the  head  of  the  Christian 
churches  of  Asia  Minor.  About  the  year  96  it  is 
said  that  he  was  banished  to  Patmos,  and  that  he 
died  two  years  later.  Several  stories  about  him 
have  been  preserved  by  the  writers  of  the  second 
and  third  centuries,  some  of  them  very  beautiful 


272   HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

But  this  tradition  of  his  residence  in  Ephesus  is 
not  without  its  difficulties.  In  the  first  place,  Cle- 
ment of  Rome,  in  the  year  96,  wrote  as  if  all  the 
apostles  were  dead.  It  is  very  improbable  that  he 
would  have  been  ignorant  of  the  fact  if  John  had 
been  still  alive.  A  still  graver  doubt  is  thrown  on 
this  tradition  through  the  fact  that  Ignatius,  who 
lived  and  wrote  his  seven  letters  between  the  years 
107  and  140,  makes  no  mention  of  John.  He  was 
at  the  time  passing  through  Asia  Minor,  a  prisoner 
on  his  way  to  Rome,  and  wrote  letters  to  the  Ephe- 
sians,  to  the  Philadelphians,  to  the  Smyrnaeans,  to 
the  Magnesians,  to  the  Trallians,  to  the  Philippians, 
and  to  the  Romans.  He  speaks  of  Peter  and  Paul, 
but  never  once  of  John.  If  John  had  lived  in 
Ephesus  and  labored  throughout  Asia  Minor,  is 
not  this  silence  very  strange,  especially  since  his 
death  must  have  been  quite  recent  ?  But  it  is  im- 
possible with  the  present  state  of  our  sources  to 
know  what  the  end  of  John  was. 

The  fate  of  James,  the  brother  of  Christ,  is  de- 
scribed by  Josephus.  He  says  that  about  the  year 
62  the  high  priest  and  the  Sadducee  party  in  Jeru- 
salem caused  his  death. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE   OPPOSITION   TO   CHRISTIANITY. 

CHRISTIANITY  had  two  foes,  Judaism  and  hea- 
thenism. From  the  first,  the  Christian  preaching 
was  polemic  and  apologetic  against  the  Jews.  They 
had  the  same  book.  The  difference  was  one  of  in- 
terpretation. But  so  far  as  we  know  there  were 
no  written  apologies  addressed  to  the  Jews  during 
this  period.  Such  writings  did  not  appear  until  in 
the  second  century.  The  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews 
was  polemic,  and  written  to  show  that  Christianity 
is  in  every  way  better  than  Judaism.  It  is  a  com- 
parison of  the  two,  but  it  is  addressed,  not  to  the 
Jews,  but  to  Christians.  The  Revelation  is,  in 
certain  particulars  at  least,  bitterly  hostile  to  the 
Jews,  but  it  is  not  addressed  to  them. 

In  Palestine  there  was  apparently  no  opposition 
for  three  or  four  years  after  the  death  of  Christ. 
The  explanation  of  this  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact 
that,  in  spite  of  the  rhetorical  passages  in  the  Acts, 
Christianity  did  not  make  any  great  noise  for  a 
while,  and  its  adherents  were  very  conservative. 
The  first  opposition  of  which  we  learn  was  in  con- 
nection with  the  dispute  and  address  of  Stephen. 
His  free  criticism  of  the  Mosaic  worship  brought 


274    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

the  mob  upon  him,  and  not  only  he  suffered  death, 
but  there  was  a  general  persecution  of  the  Chris- 
tians in  Jerusalem,  many  of  whom  had  to  flee  from 
the  city.  We  have  only  hints  as  to  what  they  suf- 
fered, but  it  is  clear  that  the  Jewish  authorities 
were  in  earnest  in  their  efforts  to  crush  out  the 
young  and  rising  heresy.  Saul,  it  is  said,  was 
"  breathing  slaughter,"  which  may  be  taken  as  re- 
presentative of  the  attitude  of  the  Jews.  According 
to  Paul's  words  he  imprisoned  men  and  women, 
scourged  them  in  the  synagogues,  and  even  went 
to  foreign  cities  to  carry  on  his  work  of  persecu- 
tion. When  they  were  put  to  death,  he  rejoiced 
at  their  fate.  Possibly  the  letter  to  the  Hebrews 
is  addressed  to  the  Jewish  Christians  in  Palestine. 
If  that  be  the  case,  some  of  them  had  endured  a 
great  conflict  of  sufferings.  They  had  been  in 
bonds  for  the  truth's  sake,  and  many  had  been 
deprived  of  their  possessions  (x.  32-34).  The  death 
of  James  and  the  seizure  of  Peter  are  attributed  to 
Herod,  but  the  fact  that  these  things  pleased  the 
Jews  makes  it  not  improbable  that  they  had  some- 
thing to  do  with  it. 

In  other  countries  their  opposition  was  none  the 
less  bitter,  although  they  were  not  always  able  to 
convert  their  hatred  into  action.  No  matter  where 
Paul  went,  he  was  seldom  free  from  their  plots 
and  violence.  From  Rev.  ii.  9  and  iii.  9  we 
learn  that  there  was  trouble  there  between  the 
Christians  and  the  Jews,  who  are  called  the  syna- 
gogue of  Satan,  because  they  were  trying  to  im- 
prison the  Christians. 


THE  OPPOSITION   TO   CHRISTIANITY.      275 

The  means  which  they  used  were  various. 
Whenever  they  could,  they  stirred  up  the  mob  as 
the  surest  way  of  accomplishing  their  purpose. 
References  to  this  method  of  procedure  are  common, 
as  in  Acts  xiv.  19,  where  it  is  said  that  the  Jews 
from  Antioch  and  Iconium  persuaded  the  multi- 
tudes and  stoned  Paul  and  left  him  for  dead. 

In  xvii.  6  the  Jews  of  Thessalonica  are  said  to 
have  got  a  mob  together  to  drive  out  Paul  and 
Silas.  Before  the  governors  they  also  made 
charges  against  the  Christians  that  they  were 
traitors  to  the  government  and  were  preaching 
another  king,  Jesus.  Sometimes  they  appealed  to 
the  authorities  to  stop  the  spread  of  the  sect  simply 
on  religious  grounds.  They  demanded  that  the 
Roman  law  protect  and  assist  them  in  their  efforts 
to  compel  the  observance  of  the  law. 

In  order  to  inflame  the  populace  against  the 
Christians,  they  also  spread  abroad  evil  slanders 
concerning  them  and  their  meetings.  Thus  it  was 
declared  that  in  their  nightly  meetings  under  the 
cover  of  the  darkness  they  practiced  unnatural 
crimes,  indulged  their  lust  promiscuously,  and  even 
murdered  children,  whose  flesh  they  ate  and  whose 
blood  they  drank.  The  early  fathers  say  that  all 
these  stories  originated  with  the  Jews.  The  only 
trace  of  such  things  to  be  found  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment is  in  Acts  xx.  8.  At  Troas,  where  Paul 
preached  late  into  the  night,  the  aiithor  is  careful 
to  say  that  there  were  many  lights  in  the  room 
where  they  were  gathered  together.  This  sounds 


276    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

strange.  What  need  was  there  of  making  such  a 
statement  ?  We  would  think  it  entirely  unneces- 
sary. It  is  probable  that  the  author  wished  to 
guard  against  malicious  slanders  and  evil  surmis- 
ings,  and  so  emphasized  the  fact  that  the  room  was 
well  lighted,  and  hence  there  would  be  no  possibil- 
ity of  practicing  the  evil  deeds  with  which  they 
were  charged. 

At  Philippi  and  at  Ephesus  Paul  and  his  com- 
panions were  subjected  to  persecution  and  violence, 
because  their  work  had  cut  off  the  gains  of  certain 
men  or  classes  of  men.1 

The  heathen  writers  of  the  first  century  took  no 
notice  of  Christianity.  They  did  not  think  it 
worth  refuting,  and  they  did  not  regard  it  as 
powerful  enough  to  be  dangerous  to  the  state. 
Their  silence  is  not  strange,  for  most  of  the 
Christians  belonged  to  the  lower  classes.  Chris- 
tianity was  not  a  fashionable  religion.  As  a  move- 
ment it  did  not  attract  the  attention  of  the 
educated.  It  built  no  great  temples ;  it  had  no 
mysterious  and  imposing  sacrifices  or  ritual.  Be- 
sides, it  came  from  the  Jews.  It  was  in  fact 

1  The  reader  will  easily  recall  the  opposition  with  which  Paul 
met  at  Damascus,  Jerusalem,  Antioch,  and  elsewhere,  but  if  he 
wishes  to  get  the  full  force  of  this,  he  should  collect  all  the 
passages  in  the  writings  of  the  New  Testament  which  refer  to 
opposition  or  persecution.  In  this  way  he  will  get  a  good  im- 
pression of  the  bitterness  and  violence  to  which  the  Christians 
were  subject  by  the  plots  of  the  Jews.  It  is  needless  to  say  that 
since  the  Christians  came  into  power  with  Constantino  they  have 
repaid  the  Jews  with  heavy  interest. 


THE  OPPOSITION  TO  CHRISTIANITY.     277 

regarded  as  a  Jewish  sect,  and  so  its  adherents 
were  regarded  with  the  same  dislike  and  prejudices 
as  the  Jews.  More  than  this,  there  were  no  Chris- 
tian writers  that  appealed  by  their  writings  to  the 
general  public.  They  addressed  no  apologies  to 
the  heathen,  and  produced  no  polite  literature  that 
would  challenge  the  attention  of  the  educated 
world.  Not  one  of  the  writings  of  the  New  Testa-' 
ment  is  addressed  to  the  heathen.  Christianity 
was  for  a  long  titne  propagated  by  the  spoken,  not 
by  the  written  word. 

But  there  were  certain  things  about  Christianity 
which  made  it  impossible  for  the  local  Roman  offi- 
cers to  let  it  go  unnoticed.  The  government  was 
very  watchful  against  the  nightly  meetings  of  clubs 
and  secret  societies,  for  they  were  likely  to  be  the 
hotbed  of  conspiracies.  The  character  of  their 
meetings  made  the  Christians  seem  very  like  such 
a  club,  and  hence  their  meetings  might  be  inter- 
rupted and  punished  by  the  police  at  any  time. 

Eastern  religions,  except  Judaism,  were  for- 
bidden. So  long  as  Christianity  could  pass  as  a 
Jewish  sect,  it  was  undisturbed,  but  when  it  became 
clearly  differentiated  from  Judaism  it  became  at 
the  same  time  a  proscribed  religion,  and  to  be  a 
Christian  was  to  be  a  criminal  in  the  eyes  of  the 
law. 

Another  ground  of  persecution  was  found  in  the 
attitude  of  the  Christians  to  the  heathen  temples 
and  idols,  their  holy  days  and  processions.  Almost 
every  neighborhood  had  its  temple  and  god,  which 


278  HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHUECH. 

was  regularly  honored  on  fixed  days  by  a  great 
gathering,  a  feast,  and  a  grand  procession.  Nat- 
urally, the  Christians  withdrew  from  these  cele- 
brations. Nothing  could  have  been  more  offensive 
to  their  friends  and  neighbors,  for  their  conduct 
seemed  to  be  inviting  the  wrath  and  vengeance 
of  the  god.  They  attributed  the  breaking  out  of 
an  epidemic  disease,  or  the  failure  of  the  crops, 
drought,  storms,  or  any  calamity,  to  the  anger  of 
the  gods,  the  cause  of  which  was  not  far  to  seek : 
they  were  offended  at  the  Christians  who  despised 
them  and  refused  to  pay  them  their  proper  honors. 
Such  "  atheists  "  must  be  brought  to  sacrifice,  or 
be  removed  from  the  land.  In  consequence  of 
this,  the  Christians  in  many  places  suffered  violence 
at  the  hands  of  the  infuriated  mob  that  had  taken 
it  upon  themselves  to  guard  the  honor  of  their 
gods  and  remove  the  cause  of  their  anger. 

The  rise  and  rapid  spread  of  the  worship  of  the 
Emperor  has  already  been  spoken  of.  It  had  per- 
vaded the  life  of  the  people  to  such  an  extent  that 
it  was  the  most  common  form  of  idolatry  practiced 
in  the  empire.  To  refuse  to  sacrifice  to  the  Em- 
peror was  to  be  guilty  of  both  sacrilege  and  high 
treason,  the  punishment  of  which  was  death  by 
beheading,  burning,  or  by  being  thrown  to  the  wild 
beasts  in  the  arena.  To  refuse  to  sacrifice  before 
his  statue  was  to  be  guilty  of  sacrilege,  because  it 
showed  a  lack  of  respect  for  holy  things  ;  and  it  was 
treason,  because  it  was  an  offense  against  the  Em- 
peror's majesty  and  a  denial  of  his  divine  dignity. 


THE  OPPOSITION  TO  CHRISTIANITY.     279 

It  was  here  that  the  Jews  showed  their  malignity, 
and  found  ample  opportunity  to  vent  their  religious 
hatred  under  cover  of  the  law.  They  early  learned 
that  the  safest  way  was  to  inform  the  officers  of  the 
government  of  the  presence  of  Christians.  Their 
religious  enmity  was  the  moving  cause,  but  in  each 
case  they  made  the  charges  which  would  be  most 
effective  and  have  greatest  weight  with  the  author- 
ities. It  is  a  significant  fact  that  in  almost  all  the 
accounts  of  martyrdoms  in  the  second  and  third 
centuries  there  are  Jews  present,  stirring  up  the 
people  and  urging  on  the  punishment  of  the  Chris- 
tians. 

The  form  of  the  trial  was,  for  the  Christians,  a 
most  unfortunate  one.  There  was  but  one  way  to 
clear  themselves  of  the  charge,  and  that  was  by 
offering  sacrifice  before  the  statue  of  the  Emperor 
or  at  the  altar  of  some  idol.  In  order  to  be  set 
free  they  must  defile  their  conscience  and  deny 
their  God.  They  were  not  asked  whether  they  were 
guilty  of  any  crime,  such  as  murder,  fraud,  or  theft. 
It  mattered  not  how  pure  their  lives,  how  upright 
their  conduct ;  simply  to  be  a  Christian  was  to  be 
a  criminal,  and  the  only  satisfactory  evidence  to  the 
contrary  could  be  furnished  in  but  one  way,  by 
sacrificing  to  the  gods  and  denying  the  name  of 
Christ.  Throughout  the  first  three  centuries  there 
is  one  long  protesting  cry  heard  from  the  Christians 
against  such  unfair  treatment.  They  urged  that  a 
crime  could  not  consist  in  a  name,  and  pointed  to 
the  gross  injustice  that  was  apparent  in  setting  a 


280    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

thief  or  libertine  free  because  he  worshiped  the 
gods  and  denied  Christ,  while  the  pure  and  upright 
were  put  to  death,  simply  because  they  confessed 
the  name  of  Christ. 

There  are  many  references  in  the  book  of  Reve- 
lation to  the  worship  of  the  Emperor  and  to  those 
who  had  suffered  martyrdom  because  of  their 
refusal  to  take  part  in  it.  The  oft-recurring  ex- 
pression "  to  worship  the  beast  and  his  image " 
means  to  worship  the  Emperor  and  his  statue.  In 
ii.  13,  it  is  said  that  Satan's  throne  is  at  Pergamum, 
an  expression  which  refers  to  the  great  number  of 
heathen  temples  there.  Among  them  was  one  to 
the  Roman  Emperor,  and  Antipas  had  suffered  mar- 
tyrdom because  he  had  refused  to  worship  him.  A 
careful  study  of  the  whole  book  will  reveal  the  fact 
that  nearly  all  the  martyrs  that  are  mentioned  have 
suffered  for  this  same  cause.  It  will  be  seen,  too, 
that  the  background  of  the  book  is  not  Rome  and 
the  persecution  of  Nero,  but  Asia  Minor  and  the 
general  attitude  of  the  government  to  the  Chris- 
tians, which  often  caused  local  persecution  and 
oppression. 

Two  Roman  Emperors  of  the  first  century  have 
covered  themselves  with  lasting  infamy  by  their 
treatment  of  the  Christians.  These  are  Nero  (54- 
68)  and  Domitian  (81-96). 

The  persecution  by  Nero  is  connected  with  the 
burning  of  Rome.  On  the  night  of  the  18th  of 
July,  in  the  year  64,  a  fire  broke  out  in  the  city 
and  raged  for  six  days  and  seven  nights  before  it 


THE  OPPOSITION  TO  CHRISTIANITY.     281 

could  be  extinguished.  But  it  soon  broke  out  again 
in  a  new  quarter  of  the  city,  and  it  was  three  days 
before  it  could  be  brought  under  control.  About 
two  thirds  of  the  city  were  in  ashes,  the  people  were 
without  shelter,  and  most  of  them  could  not  even 
distinguish  the  place  where  their  homes  had  once 
been.  But  worst  of  all,  their  beloved  temples  and 
favorite  altars  were  swept  away  too.  The  common 
belief  was  that  Nero  had  caused  the  city  to  be 
burned.  This  was  strengthened  by  the  fact  that 
the  second  fire  began  in  the  house  of  one  of  his 
favorites.  It  must  be  said,  however,  that  he  him- 
self was  not  in  the  city  when  the  fire  began.  It  is 
known  that  Nero  had  expressed  a  wish  to  rebuild 
Koine  and  to  beautify  it.  The  streets  were  crooked, 
narrow,  and  in  many  places  unsightly.  It  was  his 
ambition  to  make  these  straight,  and,  by  entirely 
rebuilding  the  city,  to  have  a  good  pretext  for  nam- 
ing it  after  himself,  "  Neropolis."  Besides,  there 
was  ground  in  various  parts  of  the  city  which  he 
wished  to  possess,  but  thus  far  it  had  been  impos- 
sible for  him  to  obtain  it.  But  after  the  fire  it  is 
a  well-known  fact  that  he  seized  possessions  in  many 
places,  a  thing  which  was  very  easy,  since  all  the 
landmarks  were  gone.  At  any  rate,  there  was  a 
strong  belief  that  he  had  done  the  mischief,  and  the 
people  were  raging  against  him.  It  was  necessary 
for  him  to  have  a  scapegoat  that  he  might  be  able 
to  turn  the  suspicion  and  anger  from  himself. 

Tacitus  tells  us  that  under  these  circumstances 
•some  Christians  were  seized  and  charged  with  the 


282    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

crime.  Being  put  to  the  torture,  they  confessed 
that  they  were  guilty,  and  gave  the  names  of  many 
of  their  fellow-Christians,  who  were  seized  and  put 
to  death  with  the  most  refined  cruelty.  Some  of 
them  were  crucified.  Others  were  sewed  up  in 
skins  to  resemble  wild  animals,  and  fierce  hunting 
dogs  were  turned  loose  upon  them.  Others  were 
covered  with  inflammable  material,  dipped  in  pitch, 
and  elevated  on  poles  to  serve  as  torches  to  illumi- 
nate the  garden  of  Nero  in  which  races  were  held. 
Nero  himself,  in  the  dress  of  a  charioteer,  con- 
tended in  the  races. 

The  age  of  Nero  was  intensely  realistic  in  art. 
On  the  stage,  it  often  happened  that  the  play 
ended  literally  with  the  death  of  the  actors.  For 
such  characters,  criminals  were  used.  Many  of 
the  myths  were  dramatized  and  exhibited  as  "  liv- 
ing pictures."  Some  of  the  Christians  were  used 
for  this  purpose  also.  Dirce,  the  enchantress,  had 
used  her  arts  on  Antiope,  but  her  two  sons  avenged 
their  mother  by  tying  Dirce  to  the  horns  of  a  wild 
bull  and  causing  her  to  be  dragged  to  death.  This 
story  of  Dirce  has  been  represented  in  plastic  art 
in  the  famous  group  known  as  the  Farnese  Bull. 
This  had  been  dramatized,  and  Christian  girls  and 
women  were  compelled  to  play  the  part  of  Dirce, 
being  tied  to  the  horns  of  the  infuriated  beasts  and 
dashed  to  death  as  they  rushed  about  the  arena. 
Still  others  had  to  play  the  part  of  the  daughters 
of  Danaus.  We  do  not  know  in  just  what  form 
this  myth  had  been  dramatized,  though  it  is  not 


THE  OPPOSITION   TO  CHRISTIANITY.     283 

improbable  that  they  were  given  over  to  the  lust 
of  men,  possibly  of  the  soldiers. 

Such  were  the  punishments,  but  how  many  suf- 
fered? We  have  no  means  of  knowing.  Both 
Tacitus  and  Clement,  writing  entirely  indepen- 
dently of  each  other,  say  "  a  great  multitude,"  but 
this  is  only  a  general  expression,  and  does  not  help 
us  to  form  an  opinion  of  the  exact  number.  To 
any  humane  man,  even  fifty  such  sufferers  would 
seem  a  great  multitude. 

We  must  seek  to  discover  why  the  Christians 
should  be  chosen  as  the  scapegoat  and  the  crime 
laid  upon  them.  Suetonius  says  it  was  in  part  be- 
cause they  were  given  to  a  new  and  criminal  super- 
stition. That  is,  because  they  were  addicted  to  a 
new  Eastern  religion,  which  was  forbidden  by  the 
laws  of  Rome.  Tacitus  says  that  Nero  charged 
them  with  the  burning  of  Rome,  but  implies  that 
the  Romans  did  not  believe  them  guilty,  but  that 
he  merely  took  advantage  of  the  fact  that  they 
were  hated  by  the  people,  in  order  to  turn  the  at- 
tention of  the  populace  from  himself.  Their  un- 
popularity may  be  attributed  to  two  causes  :  first, 
they  were  hated  because  of  the  base  deeds  which 
they  were  thought  to  commit  in  their  nightly  meet- 
ings ;  and  second,  they  were  said  to  hate  the  whole 
human  race,  since  they  took  the  surest  means  to 
bring  destruction  upon  it,  by  refusing  to  honor  the 
gods  and  to  perform  the  duties  of  good  citizens. 

But  still  we  may  ask  the  question,  why  did  Nero 
select  the  Christians  ?  Why  not  the  Jews,  for  they 


284    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHUECH. 

also  were  unpopular.  There  are  two  possible 
explanations  of  this.  The  wife  of  Nero,  Poppsea, 
was  either  a  Jewess  or  a  proselyte.  She  was  the 
friend  and  advocate  of  the  Jews  at  the  court,  and 
was  surrounded  by  them.  Through  her  influence 
Nero  was  also  friendly  to  the  Jews,  and  many  of 
his  favorites  were  of  that  nationality.  When  we 
consider  the  bitter  hostility  which  the  Jews  had 
toward  the  Christians,  it  at  once  becomes  very 
probable  that  the  Jews  at  the  court  of  Nero  took 
this  opportunity  of  involving  the  Christians  of 
Rome  in  ruin.  It  would  be  easy  for  them  to  sug- 
gest to  him  that  the  language  and  belief  of  the 
Christians  could  easily  be  interpreted  in  such  a 
way  as  to  make  it  appear  that  they  were  probably 
the  guilty  ones,  for  they  constantly  spoke  of  the 
kingship  of  Jesus,  and  of  his  return  to  judgment, 
and  of  the  destruction  of  the  world  by  fire.  Their 
words  could  be  easily  garbled  and  given  a  political 
coloring. 

But  it  is  possible  that  this  was  brought  on  them 
through  the  action  of  some  faction  in  the  Roman 
Church.  For  Clement  of  Rome  says  that  the  per- 
secution was  caused  through  "  envy  and  strife," 
but  the  envy  and  strife  of  whom  ?  Of  the  Jews, 
of  the  Judaizers,  or  of  some  faction  among  the 
Christians  themselves  ?  Only  two  years  before 
this,  Paul  had  written  to  the  Philippians  that 
some  were  preaching  Christ  "  out  of  envy  and 
strife."  All  these  are  possibilities.  It  is  impossi- 
ble to  say  which  is  the  more  probable. 


THE  OPPOSITION  TO  CHRISTIANITY.     285 

There  is  still  one  question  which  we  must  ask 
about  this  persecution.  Did  it  extend  beyond 
Home,  or  was  it  confined  wholly  to  the  city?  There 
is  not  the  least  evidence  to  show  that  the  Christians 
outside  of  Rome  were  troubled  by  it.  There  was  no 
general  edict  against  the  Christians,  and  none  were 
arrested  except  those  of  the  city.  The  whole  per- 
secution was  improvised.  Nero  neither  knew  about 
nor  cared  for  Christianity,  but  he  was  suddenly 
brought  into  such  a  situation  that  it  was  necessary 
for  him  to  find  some  one  whom  he  could  treat  as 
guilty,  and  so  turn  the  anger  of  the  people  from 
himself.  It  was  simply  the  misfortune  of  the 
Christians  that  in  some  way  his  attention  was 
turned  to  them,  and  they  had  to  suffer.  The  state 
was  not  persecuting  Christianity  as  such,  but  in  an 
evil  hour  they  were  called  on  to  suffer  through  the 
caprice  and  cruelty  of  the  Emperor. 

And  yet  the  persecution  did  affect  the  standing 
of  the  Christians,  at  least  in  many  provinces.  It 
made  it  clear  to  all  the  local  authorities  that  the 
Christians  were  not  the  favorites  of  the  Emperor, 
and  hence  might  be  punished  with  impunity.  It 
no  doubt  led  to  greater  vigilance  on  the  part  of  the 
officers  of  the  state,  and  hence  to  many  single 
arrests  and  executions.  Through  this,  the  situation 
of  the  Christians  was  made  much  less  secure,  and 
they  were  exposed  as  never  before  to  petty  annoy- 
ances and  to  the  dangers  of  arrest.  It  was  this 
change  in  the  general  situation  and  safety  of  the 
Christians  that  forms  the  background  of  the  book 
of  Revelation. 


286    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHUXCH. 

The  persecution  under  Domitian  was  by  no 
means  a  general  one,  and  it  is  probable  that  only  a 
few  individuals  were  affected  by  it.  The  fate  of 
Flavius  Clemens  and  Dornitilla  has  already  been 
recounted.  Eusebius,  in  his  Chronicon,  says  that 
many  Christians  were  put  to  death  in  the  last  years 
of  his  reign.  Clement  of  Rome  excuses  the  Roman 
Christians  for  not  having  written  earlier  to  the 
Corinthians  because  of  the  sudden  misfortunes  and 
calamities  that  had  befallen  the  congregation  in 
quick  succession.  Domitian's  cruelty  was  caused 
largely  by  the  fact  that  he  was  in  need  of  money. 
This  led  him  to  make  use  of  spies  and  informers, 
whose  business  it  was  to  hunt  out  all  those  who 
could  be  charged  with  any  infraction  of  the  laws, 
and  bring  them  before  the  Emperor  that  he  might 
invent  some  pretext  for  seizing  their  property.  In 
this  way,  some  Christians  suffered  rather  because 
of  his  cruelty  than  because  they  were  Christians. 
Yet  it  is  possible  that  he  also  issued  edicts  aimed 
against  both  Christians  and  Jews,  for  Dion  Cassius 
says  that  his  successor,  Nerva,  w'hen  he  came  to  the 
throne,  pardoned  those  who  had  been  condemned 
because  of  "  impiety "  (a  common  charge  against 
the  Christians),  recalled  those  who  had  been  ban- 
ished, and  forbade  that  any  should  be  tried  on  the 
charge  of  "  impiety,"  or  for  adopting  the  Jewish 
faith.  This  can  only  mean  that  he  undid  the  action 
of  Domitian,  his  predecessor,  but  it  is  not  clear  just 
what  shape  this  action  had  taken. 

The  persecutions  of   the  early  Christians  have 


THE  OPPOSITION  TO  CHRISTIANITY.     287 

been  greatly  exaggerated  for  rhetorical  as  well  as 
apologetical  purposes,  but  enough  has  been  said  to 
show  that  their  situation  was  far  from  a  safe  one. 
The  real  history  of  their  sufferings  has  never  yet 
been  written  by  man.  Only  brief  fragments  of  it 
have  escaped  the  oblivion  of  the  years,  but  even 
these  fill  us  with  a  strange  sadness  and  sympathy, 
and  give  us  the  desire  to  know  all  that  they  dared 
and  suffered  for  their  faith.  It  would  show  us  the 
measure  of  their  attachment  to  Jesus.  But  this  will 
not  be  known  till  that  great  day  when  all  hidden 
things  shall  be  brought  to  light. 


CHAPTER    X. 

AUTHORITIES,    GOVERNMENT,    AND   WORSHIP. 

WE  must  begin  with  the  fundamental  fact  that 
every  Christian  was  thought  to  possess  the  Holy 
Spirit  by  virtue  of  his  confession  of  his  belief  in 
Jesus  as  the  Messiah.  He  received  the  Holy  Spirit, 
which  brought  him  into  a  direct  and  intimate  rela- 
tion with  God.  He  received  the  spirit  of  adoption 
which  enabled  him  to  call  God  "  Father,"  and  ad- 
dress Him  as  a  child  would  address  its  father.  This 
filial  relation  and  intercourse  of  the  individual  be- 
liever with  God  because  of  the  possession  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  is  one  of  the  basal  beliefs  of  the  first 
Christians.  The  believer  is  said  to  walk  in  this 
spirit,  to  live  in  it,  and  to  be  controlled  by  it.  Paul 
felt  this  truth  perhaps  most  strongly  of  all  the 
writers  of  the  New  Testament,  and  gave  it  its  clas- 
sical expression  when  he  said,  "  I  live  no  longer, 
but  Christ  lives  in  me." 

Whatever  natural  means  or  ability  the  believer 
possessed  were  regarded  as  a  gift,  a  Charisma,  which 
must  be  used  in  some  kind  of  service  for  his  fellow- 
Christians.  Paul  often  gave  expression  to  this 
truth.  In  Romans  xii.  4  £f.  he  says,  "  For  even 
as  we  have  many  members  in  one  body,  and  all  the 


AUTHORITIES,  GOVERNMENT,  WORSHIP.    289 

members  have  not  the  same  office :  so  we,  who  are 
many,  are  one  body  in  Christ,  and  severally  mem- 
bers one  of  another.  And  having  gifts  differing 
according  to  the  grace  that  was  given  to  us,  whether 
prophecy,  let  us  prophesy  according  to  the  propor- 
tion of  our  faith ;  or  ministry,  let  us  give  ourselves 
to  our  ministry ;  or  he  that  teacheth,  to  his  teach- 
ing ;  or  he  that  exhorteth,  to  his  exhorting :  he  that 
giveth,  let  him  do  it  with  liberality ;  he  that  ruleth, 
with  diligence ;  he  that  sheweth  mercy,  with  cheer- 
fulness." Thus  he  regarded  the  ability  to  prophesy, 
to  minister,  to  teach,  to  exhort,  to  give,  to  ride,  to 
show  mercy,  as  gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit  out  of  God's 
free  grace.  In  similar  language  in  his  first  letter 
to  the  Corinthians  he  tells  us  that  there  is  but  one 
spirit,  but  a  great  variety  of  gifts,  as  of  wisdom, 
of  knowledge,  of  faith,  of  healings,  of  prophecy,  of 
speaking  with  tongues,  of  helps,  of  gifts,  and  so  on 
indefinitely.  Every  believer  was  raised  to  the  high 
position  of  a  king  and  priest  before  God,  for  he  was 
destined  to  reign  with  Him,  and  had  access  to  his 
presence  in  prayer  without  the  intervention  of  any 
man  or  class  of  men  whose  special  prerogative  it 
was  to  deal  with  holy  things.  Every  one  who  has 
the  Spirit  has  direct  access  to  the  Holy  of  Holies, 
to  the  throne  of  God  himself.  What  need  was 
there  then  that  any  one  should  be  invested  with  a 
special  authority  ?  What  room  or  place  was  there 
for  the  thought  of  a  special  inspiration  which  should 
give  its  possessor  an  absolute  authority  ?  If  each 
one  lives  in  direct  communication  with  God,  how 


290    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHUECH. 

can  he  admit  that  any  man  or  book  may  have  an 
authority  for  him  ?  For  himself  he  needed  no  ex- 
ternal authority.  This  was  the  theory  of  the  early 
Christians,  but  facts  are  more  powerful  than  the- 
ories. The  practical  exigencies  of  the  situation 
radically  modified  the  workings  of  their  theory. 

The  belief  in  the  Messiahship  of  Jesus  carried 
with  it  one  duty.  It  was  the  duty  of  the  individual 
as  well  as  of  the  whole  body  of  believers  to  con- 
vince both  Jews  and  heathen  that  Jesus  was  the 
Messiah  sent  of  God.  To  do  this,  they  had  to 
have  authorities  and  proofs.  Besides  that,  in  a 
few  years  after  the  death  of  Christ,  ideas  and  be- 
liefs were  entertained  by  many  in  the  church  which 
seemed  to  others  to  be  hostile  to  Christianity  and 
subversive  of  its  principles.  To  refute  these  and 
protect  the  church  there  was  need  of  authorities. 

The  first  of  these  was  the  Old  Testament.  Every- 
where in  the  New  Testament  we  find  the  Old 
quoted,  and  used  as  an  authority  which  must  not 
be  questioned.  Jesus  himself  used  it  as  an  au- 
thority, in  spite  of  the  fact  that  he  at  times  quoted 
it  only  to  replace  its  teachings  by  his  own.  He 
did  not  hesitate  to  set  over  against  "  It  is  writ- 
ten," "But  I  say  unto  you."1  He  recognized  its 
authority  in  a  general  way,  but  put  above  it  the 
higher  truth  which  he  felt  himself  to  possess. 

1  In  Matthew,  ch.  v.,  Jesus  uses  the  formula,  "  It  has  been 
said,"  or,  "  Ye  have  heard  that  it  was  said,"  to  introduce  quota- 
tions from  the  Old  Testament,  and  then  offers  his  teaching  in 
opposition  to  it. 


AUTHORITIES,   GOVERNMENT,  WORSHIP.    291 

Paul  declared  that  the  whole  Old  Dispensation 
with  all  its  authorities  were  forever  done  away  and 
were  no  longer  binding  on  the  Christians,  and  yet 
he  drew  from  the  Old  Testament  collateral  evi- 
dence for  many  of  his  teachings  and  principles. 
Above  all,  he  used  it  to  prove  that  Jesus  was  the 
promised  Messiah,  by  showing  that  many  of  its 
prophecies  and  much  of  its  language  applied  to 
him.  But  it  is  safe  to  say  that  the  Old  Testament 
would  not  have  held  its  place  on  the  same  plane  of 
authority  with  the  words  of  Jesus  but  for  the  fact 
that  it  was  so  constantly  used  to  prove  his  Messiah- 
ship. 

The  highest  authority  of  all  was  Jesus,  as  repre- 
sented by  his  words  and  deeds.  To  be  able  to 
quote  one  of  his  sayings  was  to  settle  any  point  of 
dispute  or  uncertainty.  Our  Gospels  are  meant  to 
be  simply  collections  of  his  sayings,  though  they 
do  not  contain  them  all.  When  writing  to  the 
Corinthians,  Paul  was  often  able  to  quote  some 
saying  of  Christ  bearing  on  the  question  in  hand, 
and  in  such  a  case  there  was  no  further  appeal. 
The  matter  was  decided  once  for  all.  He  was 
careful  to  distinguish  between  the  words  of  Jesus 
and  his  own  opinions,  and  never  thought  of  putting 
them  on  the  same  plane  of  authority.  When  he 
could  not  quote  a  saying  of  Christ  he  sometimes 
said,  "  I  give  you  my  opinion  ;  I  believe  I  have  the 
Spirit,  but  you  may  take  it  for  what  it  is  worth." 
Besides  the  words  of  Jesus,  his  deeds,  or  better, 
perhaps,  his  life,  were  regarded  as  an  authority. 


292    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

His  was  the  normal  life  which  was  to  be  imitated 
by  his  followers.  His  deeds,  such  as  the  institution 
of  the  Lord's  Supper,  his  death  and  resurrection, 
were  regarded  as  having  an  absolute  value,  and 
must  not  in  any  way  be  questioned  or  denied. 

Besides  these,  there  were  prophetical  and  apoca- 
lyptic writings  in  circulation,  which  have  found  a 
place  in  neither  the  Old  nor  the  New  Testament, 
which  were,  however,  regarded  as  authoritative. 
It  was  taken  for  granted  that  these  possessed  au- 
thority, for  they  were  believed  to  be  the  product  of 
the  Holy  Spirit.1  Several  of  these  enjoyed  a  high 
reputation  and  were  for  a  long  time  read  in  the 
churches,  and  almost  succeeded  in  maintaining  a 
place  in  the  canon  of  the  New  Testament. 

A  certain  authority  was  thought  to  attach  to  all 
those  whose  calling  it  was  to  speak  for  the  edifica- 
tion of  believers.  There  were  apostles,  prophets, 
and  teachers,  whose  gift  it  was  to  speak  the  word 
of  the  Lord.  Not  only  the  Twelve,  but  all  who 
were  sent  to  bear  the  message  of  the  gospel,  were 
called  apostles.  This  is  made  clear  from  1  Corin- 
thians xii.  28,  and  from  the  "  Teachings  of  the 
Twelve  Apostles"  (chapters  11-13),  which  throws 
much  light  on  the  passage  in  Corinthians  in  which 
apostles,  prophets,  and  teachers  are  mentioned. 
These  did  not  belong  to  the  local  band  of  Chris- 
tians, but  as  the  prophets  of  old  were  sent  to  the 
whole  Jewish  nation,  so  these  apostles,  prophets, 
and  teachers  were  given  to  the  whole  church,  and 

1  Two  such  writings  are  quoted  in  the  Epistle  of  Jude. 


AUTHORITIES,   GOVERNMENT,  WORSHIP.    293 

therefore  they  were  regarded  as  having  a  certain 
degree  of  authority. 

Lastly,  it  was  felt  that  those  who  had  first  em- 
braced Christianity,  those  who  were  "  presbyters," 
that  is,  "  seniors  "  in  years  and  experience,  were 
entitled  to  a  regard  and  reverence  which  amounted 
to  admitting  them  to  the  rank  of  authorities. 

These  were  the  various  authorities  of  the  early 
Christians,  all  of  which  can  be  easily  discovered 
from  the  writings  of  the  New  Testament.  They 
were  not  coordinated  or  arranged  in  the  proper 
order,  nor  was  the  amount  of  authority  attaching 
to  each  determined.  They  did  not  form  a  legal 
and  dogmatically  fixed  canon  of  authority.  They 
simply  had  authority  from  the  very  nature  of  the 
case,  and  not  because  of  any  dogmatic  consider- 
ations. They  had  authority  because  of  their 
character,  which  appealed  to  the  common  sense  of 
those  who  believed.  The  pupil  has  some  reverence 
for  his  teacher.  The  convert  looks  up  to  the 
missionary  who  instructed  him  in  the  way  of  life. 
The  man  who  knows  much  about  any  subject  is  an 
authority  for  those  who  are  ignorant  about  it. 
These  things  are  so  naturally,  not  because  of  any 
dogmatic  reasons.  Above  all,  the  modern  dog- 
matic idea  of  inspiration  must  not  be  applied  to 
them.  For  such  a  thing  is  entirely  foreign  to  the 
writers  of  the  New  Testament. 

The  possession  of  the  Spirit  did  not  confer  an 
absolutely  infallible  authority.  Two  men  might 
"  have  the  Spirit,"  and  the  one  refuse  to  obey  the 


294    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

other.  This  is  clear  from  the  account  in  Acts 
concerning  Paul's  last  journey  to  Jerusalem.  In 
every  city  the  Holy  Spirit  testified  unto  him  that 
bonds  and  afflictions  awaited  him  there.  The 
disciples  said  to  him  through  the  Holy  /Spirit 
that  he  should  not  set  foot  in  Jerusalem,  but  he 
heeded  them  not,  because  he  felt  that  he  also  had 
the  Spirit. 

From  this  point  of  view  it  is  not  difficult  to  say 
a  few  plain  words  about  the  government  of  the 
early  church.  It  was  a  gift  and  not  an  office. 
Just  as  there  were  those  who  had  the  gift  of  ex- 
hortation or  of  prophecy,  so  there  were  those  who 
had  the  gift  of  ruling.  Just  as  some  set  them- 
selves to  minister  to  the  poor,  so  others  took  it 
upon  themselves  to  manage  the  affairs  of  the  con- 
gregation. All  who  served  in  any  capacity  were 
"  deacons,"  for  deacon  means  one  who  serves  or 
helps.  It  was  many  years  before  this  word  hard- 
ened into  the  technical  meaning  of  "  a  church 
officer  inferior  to  the  presbyters,  whose  duty  it  was 
to  look  after  the  temporal  affairs  of  the  congrega- 
tion." In  the  New  Testament,  Sia/covos  occurs 
about  thirty  times.  Only  three  times  is  it  trans- 
lated "  deacon  ;  "  in  every  other  case  it  is  translated 
"minister"  or  "servant."  The  verb  Sta/covew  is 
used  about  thirty-eight  times.  Only  twice  is  it 
translated  "  to  serve  as  a  deacon."  In  every  other 
case  it  is  translated  by  some  general  expression,  the 
fundamental  meaning  of  which  is  that  of  service  of 
some  kind.  It  can  be  successfully  maintained  that 


AUTHORITIES,  GOVERNMENT,  WORSHIP.    295 


is  never  used  in  the  New  Testament  as 
the  technical  name  of  a  church  officer.  Even  in 
Philippians  i.  and  1  Timothy  iii.  8,  12,  the  pas- 
sages yield  a  meaning  much  better  and  more  in 
accordance  with  the  known  facts  if  it  is  translated 
by  some  general  word  such  as  helper.  The  mean- 
ing of  the  passages  in  1  Timothy  is  that  not  every 
one  is  to  be  allowed  to  engage  freely  in  the  work 
and  affairs  of  the  congregation,  because  some  were 
doing  so  from  unworthy  motives.  All  helpers  must 
be  of  a  certain  moral  character.  There  is  as  yet  no 
office  in  the  congregations,  but  they  are  beginning 
to  have  some  supervision  over  the  exercise  of  the 
"gifts"  of  their  members.  It  is  at  most  a  step 
toward  the  formation  of  an  office.  To  be  a  "  dea- 
con "  was  still  to  be  simply  a  voluntary  helper, 
serving  the  congregation  in  whatever  way  one  was 
best  fitted  to  serve. 

In  the  same  way  "  presbyter  "  meant  simply 
elder  or  an  old  man.  This  is  the  prevailing  use  of 
the  word.  Thus  in  writing  to  Timothy  (1  Tim. 
v.  1,  17)  Paul  advises  him  not  to  rebuke  an  old 
man,  but  because  of  his  age  to  exhort  him  as  a 
father;  the  old  men  who  rule  well,  that  is,  the 
old  men  who  through  their  counsels  wisely  manage 
the  affairs  of  the  congregation,  should  have  double 
honor,  the  honor  that  attaches  to  age  and  the  honor 
that  is  due  them  for  their  good  freewill  services. 
It  is  true  in  all  countries,  and  especially  in  the 
East,  that  the  old  men  are  regarded  with  honor 
and  their  opinions  allowed  great  weight.  But  age 


296    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

does  not  constitute  an  office.  It  was  only  natural 
that  the  younger  should  be  in  subjection  to  the 
older  (1  Peter  v.  6),  but  this  was  not  because  the 
latter  held  an  office,  but  because  of  the  honor  and 
dignity  that  naturally  attached  to  age.  There  are 
many  indications  in  the  literature  of  the  first  and 
second  centuries  that  the  elders  were  the  old  men 
of  the  congregation,  who  by  courtesy,  because  of 
their  age,  had  the  right  to  a  voice  in  the  manage- 
ment of  its  affairs,  and  not  because  they  were 
officers  duly  elected  and  claiming  the  authority  by 
a  divine  right.  It  lies  beyond  the  purpose  of  this 
book  to  trace  the  gradual  transformation  of  this 
honor  and  of  the  A*  gift'7  of  ruling  into  an  office. 
It  was  a  process  which  began  in  the  apostolic  age, 
but  was  not  completed  till  long  after. 

What  we  know  about  die  church  at  Antioch  and 
the  church  at  Corinth  ought  to  be  decisive  as  to 
this  point.  At  Antuwli  it  was  not  the  bishops  or 
presbyters  and  deacons  that  managed  the  congre- 
gation, but  there  were  prophets  and  teachers, 
through  whom  the  Holy  Spirit  spoke.  The  most 
minute  study  of  the  letters  to  the  Corinthians  fails 
to  discover  any  reference  to  a  church  officer  of  any 
kind.  Everything  was  in  the  hands  of  the  whole 
church,  and  its  affairs  were  managed  and  its  work 
done,  not  by  officers,  but  by  the  freewill  exercises 
of  the  various  gifts  of  all  its  members. 

But  officers  were  soon  found  to  be  necessary,  and 
a  government  of  some  kind  had  to  be  invented,  for 
societies  cannot  exist  without  some  kind  of  govern- 


AUTHORITIES,  GOVERNMENT,  WORSHIP.    297 

ment.  There  was,  however,  no  uniform  system  of 
government,  but  each  congregation  governed  itself 
as  it  chose.  The  history  of  this  and  the  growth  of 
the  episcopal  form  of  government  belong  to  the 
following  period.1 

The  worship  of  the  Christians  was  free  and  un- 
restrained, and  there  was  no  fixed  ritual  that  was 
everywhere  followed.  Worship  was  not  separated 
from  their  daily  life  and  common  duties.  The 
worship  of  God  was  not  confined  to  set  times,  but 
pervaded  their  lives.  The  performance  of  every 
duty  was  an  act  of  worship,  because  done  in  his 
name.  They  came  together  as  often  as  possible. 
The  social  and  religious  were  so  harmoniously 
blended  that  they  could  not  be  separated.  There 
was  certainly  no  more  than  the  faintest  resemblance 
between  their  gatherings  and  what  we  call  divine 
services.  One  thing,  however,  soon  became  fixed 
in  their  gatherings.  A  portion  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament was  read.  They  early  began  to  read  the 
letters  of  the  apostles  and  of  others,  that  were  in 
circulation.  Reference  is  made  to  this  custom  of 
public  reading  in  the  book  of  Revelation  i.  3,  in 
the  words,  "  Blessed  is  he  that  readeth  and  they 
that  hear  the  words  of  the  prophecy." 

Nearly  all  our  information  of  the  services  is 
derived  from  the  first  letter  of  Paul  to  the  Corin- 
thians. From  this  it  is  evident  that  there  was  the 

1  On  the  subject  of  the  government  of  the  early  church,  the 
reader  is  referred  to  the  work  of  Hatch,  The  Organization  of 
the  Early  Christian  Churches. 


298    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

greatest  liberty  of  speech.  One  has  a  psalm, 
another  has  a  teaching,  another  a  revelation, 
another  a  tongue,  another  an  interpretation,  and 
another  a  prophecy.  The  custom  of  taking  up  a 
collection  for  the  poor  was  early  introduced. 

Baptism  "  in  the  name  of  Christ "  soon  became 
universal,  if  it  was  not  so  from  the  very  beginning. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  Apollos  was  a  Christian, 
but  knew  nothing  of  Christian  baptism,  and  Paul 
found  a  few  persons  in  Ephesus  who  likewise  be- 
lieved in  Christ,  but  knew  nothing  of  baptism  in 
his  name.  There  is  nothing  to  show  that  there 
was  any  importance  attached  to  the  person  who 
performed  the  rite.  Peter  simply  commanded  the 
household  of  Cornelius  to  be  baptized.  Paul  did 
not  regard  baptizing  as  an  essential  part  of  his 
apostleship.  The  Lord  sent  him  not  to  baptize, 
but  to  preach.  It  was  looked  upon  rather  as  the 
confession  of  Christ  by  the  one  who  was  baptized. 
It  was  his  act,  not  something  performed  on  him. 
It  symbolized  a  change  of  character  and  conse- 
quent admission  into  the  kingdom  of  the  Messiah. 
It  seems  to  have  taken  place  not  in  the  meetings 
of  the  Christians,  but  whenever  any  one  was  con- 
vinced of  the  genuineness  of  the  claims  of  Jesus. 
Even  the  disciples  did  not  at  this  time  use  the 
"  Trinitarian  "  formula  in  baptizing,  but  used  only 
the  "  name  of  the  Christ."  There  is  not  the 
slightest  trace  of  the  use  of  the  Trinitarian  formula 
in  baptizing  in  the  apostolical  writings.  Every- 
where it  is  spoken  of  as  baptism  "  into,"  "  in,"  or 


AUTHORITIES,  GOVERNMENT,  WORSHIP.    299 

"  upon  the  name  of  the  Christ "  (Acts  ii.  38,  viii.  16, 
x.  48,  xix.  5 ;  Rom.  vi.  3 ;  1  Cor.  xii.  13 ;  Gal.  Hi. 
27).  The  Gospel  of  Matthew,  which  contains  the 
Trinitarian  formula  for  baptism,  was  not  writtea 
till  some  time  after  the  death  of  Paul. 

The  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper  was  also 
not  connected  with  formal  worship,  for,  as  we 
understand  that,  such  a  thing  did  not  exist  for  a 
long  time.  They  followed  the  example  of  Christ, 
and  broke  the  bread  and  partook  of  the  cup  at  the 
close  of  the  daily  meal.  When  they  came  to- 
gether it  was  their  custom  to  partake  of  a  meal  in 
common,  and  the  eucharist  naturally  came  at  the 
close  of  this  brotherhood  meal.  As  to  its  meaning, 
we  find  two  different  ideas  attached  to  it.  The 
one  of  these  is  represented  in  John's  Gospel  and 
reappears  in  the  "  Teaching  of  the  Twelve  Apostles." 
This  is  the  idea  of  life.  Just  as  the  bread  sus- 
tained the  physical  life,  so  they  believed  that  they 
might  feed  on  Christ,  that  in  them  eternal  life 
might  be  produced.  The  other  idea  is  found  in 
Paul's  first  letter  to  the  Corinthians,  and  is  that  of 
the  forgiveness  of  sins.  The  bread  and  cup  were 
visible  reminders  to  them  of  the  fact  that  the 
body  of  their  Lord  had  been  broken  and  his  blood 
shed  for  their  sins.  They  remembered  that  he  had 
made  himself  an  offering  for  sin. 

It  is  difficult  to  speak  of  their  life  and  worship, 
because  we  attach  such  different  meanings  to  the 
words  which  we  are  compelled  to  use.  Such  a 
distinction  as  is  now  made  between  secular  and 


300    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHUECH. 

religious  was  impossible  for  them.  Christianity 
filled  their  lives.  It  was  a  new  relation  to  God. 
They  felt  themselves  to  be  his  children,  and  all 
their  time  and  strength  belonged  to  Him.  It  could 
not  be  said  that  some  of  their  acts  were  more  holy 
than  others,  for  all  were  produced  out  of  that  new 
principle  of  life  which  had  been  implanted  within 
them,  and  all  that  they  did  was  done  in  the  spirit 
and  name  of  the  Christ.  Every  duty,  however 
menial,  was  sacred,  and  its  performance  an  act  of 
worship. 


CONCLUSION. 

IT  remains  to  point  out  briefly  some  of  the  lines 
of  future  development,  the  beginnings  of  which  are 
to  be  found  within  our  period.  Some  of  these  have 
been  already  indicated.  The  Judaizers  and  the 
strict  Jewish  Christians  had  made  Paul's  life  a 
burden  to  him  during  his  last  years.  They  were 
zealous  for  the  law,  and  did  all  they  could  to  de- 
stroy his  work  among  the  Gentiles.  References  to 
them  in  Paul's  latest  letters  show  that  they  were 
still  at  work,  even  after  he  had  been  long  in  prison. 
But  when,  in  the  middle  of  the  second  century,  we 
again  get  a  clear  view  of  things,  we  find  that  they 
have  deserted  the  field.  The  mass  of  Jewish  Chris- 
tians had  given  up  the  law  and  were  united  with 
the  Gentile  Christians.  What  had  brought  about 
this  change  ?  In  one  word,  the  fall  of  Jerusalem. 

From  about  the  year  60  A.  D.  the^Jews  of  Pales- 
tine were  in  a  state  of  perpetual  revolt.  The  pages 
of  Josephus  give  us  some  idea  of  the  factions,  the 
bands  of  robbers  and  murderers  and  the  false  Mes- 
siahs, that  kept  Palestine  in  a  fearful  state  of 
anarchy.  For  several  years  Rome  was  slow  to  take 
up  the  work,  but  when  she  began  it  was  done  with 
characteristic  Roman  thoroughness.  The  siege  of 
Jerusalem  was  loug  and  bloody.  The  city  was  con- 


302   HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHUECH. 

quered  literally  by  inches.  The  walls  which  were 
destroyed  by  day  were  rebuilt  by  the  Jews  in  the 
night.  A  bitter  famine  increased  the  horrors  of 
the  siege.  Finally,  in  August  of  70,  the  temple 
was  taken  and  burned.  Josephus  says  this  was 
contrary  to  the  orders  of  Titus,  but  he  was  friendly 
to  the  Romans,  and  wished  to  appease  the  Jews. 
Sulpicius  Severus  in  the  fourth  century  says  that 
Titus  had  ordered  it  to  be  burned,  and  his  sources 
of  information  were  the  lost  books  of  Tacitus. 

Undoubtedly  a  large  majority  of  Jewish  Chris- 
tians were  patriotic,  and  fought  for  their  law  and 
their  homes  and  shared  the  fate  of  the  vanquished. 
Tradition  says  that  they  had  been  warned  to  flee 
from  the  city,  and  that  they  went  to  the  little  city 
of  Pella,  beyond  the  Jordan  ;  but  there  is  nothing 
to  show  that  the  thousands  that  believed  and  were 
zealous  for  the  law  deserted  their  country  in  the 
hour  of  danger. 

The  fall  of  Jerusalem  was  of  the  greatest  impor- 
tance to  the  Christian  church,  and  its  influence  on 
the  course  of  events  can  hardly  be  overestimated. 
It  was  believed  that  Jesus  had  foretold  its  destruc- 
tion, and  it  was  regarded  as  a  fulfillment  of  his 
prophecy.  The  destruction  of  the  temple  caused 
the  ritualistic  worship  to  cease.  It  confirmed  the 
belief  of  the  Christians  that  the  temple's  mission 
was  ended.  It  was  an  expression  of  God's  judg- 
ment on  the  Jews.  Their  power  as  a  nation  was 
completely  gone,  their  temple  destroyed,  their  holy 
place  denied.  God  had  deserted  his  unfaithful 


CONCLUSION.  303 

people.  He  would  have  no  more  of  their  sacrifices. 
He  had  utterly  cast  them  off,  and  so  set  his  seal  of 
approval  on  the  mission  to  the  Gentiles.  It  opened 
the  eyes  of  the  Jewish  Christians  to  these  facts. 
They  were  forced  to  interpret  it  as  an  expression 
of  God's  auger  with  his  people.  This  weakened 
their  adherence  to  the  law,  and  led  them  to  associate 
with  the  Gentile  Christians,  and  finally  brought 
about  their  complete  union.  It  separated  the  Jews 
and  the  Jewish  Christians,  for  the  latter  were  per- 
suaded that  it  was  because  of  the  sins  of  the  former 
that  all  this  had  taken  place.  There  was  now  no 
longer  the  danger  that  a  narrow  Judaistic  type  of 
XUhristianity  would  prevail.  It  relieved  Christian- 
ity from  the  pressure  which  the  Jewish  Christians 
had  put  upon  it.  It  was  left  free  to  develop  itself 
along  more  liberal  lines. 

But  not  all  the  Jewish  Christians  gave  up  the 
law.  Small  bands  of  them  still  held  to  it  and  re- 
fused to  associate  with  the  Gentile  brethren,  but 
from  this  time  Jewish  Christianity  became  less  and 
less  important.  It  ceased  to  have  any  influence  on 
the  life  and  progress  of  the  church.  The  few  con- 
gregations that  kept  the  law  shut  themselves  off 
from  the  rest  of  the  Christian  world,  and,  by  refus- 
ing to  mingle  with  other  Christians,  lost  their  only 
opportunity  to  influence  the  development  of  the 
church.  They  were  in  an  uncomfortable  position, 
for  the  Jews  cursed  them  and  the  Christians  re- 
garded them  as  heretics.  They  were  pressed  on 
both  sides.  Several  of  the  church  fathers  warned 


304    HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

against  them,  and  various  nicknames  were  applied 
to  them.  They  did  little  to  increase  their  numbers 
and  make  converts.  They  did  not  follow  the  first 
Judaizers  in  their  strenuous  missionary  efforts.  We 
know  of  but  one  writer,  Symmachus,  who  repre- 
sented their  beliefs  in  his  writings.  The  future 
was  not  theirs.  It  belonged  to  the  Gentile  Chris- 
tians whom  they  despised.  After  dragging  out  a 
pinched,  miserable  existence  for  a  few  centuries 
they  disappeared,  leaving  no  trace  of  their  influence. 

The  Jewish  Christians  who  united  with  the 
Gentiles  carried  with  them  their  personality,  their 
many  Jewish  conceptions  and  hopes,  and  helped  to 
mould  the  church.  Many  of  the  phenomena  of  the* 
history  of  the  church  in  the  next  centuries  are  to 
be  explained  by  this  fact.  They  helped  keep  the 
writings  of  the  Old  Testament  on  the  same  plane 
with  those  of  the  New,  and  infuse  a  spirit  of  legal- 
ism  into  the  church,  which  is  not  yet  wholly  cast 
out.  How  much  influence  they  had  on  the  devel- 
opment of  the  priesthood  it  is  difficult  to  say.  But 
there  is  evidence  to  show  that  the  writings  of  the 
Old  Testament  contributed  their  share  to  it. 

It  has  been  shown  that  "gifts"  (Charismata) 
occupied  a  prominent  place  in  the  thought  and  life 
of  the  Christians.  The  church  was  a  brotherhood, 
without  a  fixed  government.  Its  members  served, 
each  with  his  peculiar  gifts.  But  as  their  numbers 
increased,  some  kind  of  government  was  necessary. 
The  logic  of  events  created  offices.  Sometimes  com- 
mittees were  formed  for  special  purposes.  Some- 


CONCLUSION.  305 

times  offices  were  created  in  imitation  of  the  socie- 
ties and  clubs  that  existed  throughout  the  empire. 
These  offices  tended  to  become  permanent,  and  their 
incumbent's  power  greatly  increased.  In  this  way 
they  encroached  on  those  whose  services  had  been 
voluntary.  Opposition  arose  between  those  who 
had  gifts  and  those  who  had  offices.  Of  these  "  char- 
ismatic" persons,  the  prophets  were  the  last  to 
yield.  This  struggle  culminated  in  the  movement 
known  as  Montanism  at  the  end  of  the  second  cen- 
tury. The  outcome  could  not  be  doubtful.  The 
officers  were  organized,  the  prophets  were  only  so 
many  individuals.  Regularly  appointed  officers  of 
the  church  came  to  control  everything.  There  was 
no  longer  room  for  the  free  exercise  of  gifts  of  any 
kind.  The  clergy  dominated  everything.  The 
offices  and  the  honors  were  theirs.  Obedience  to 
them  became  the  test  of  church  membership. 

Jesus  had  said  that  religion  is  a  matter  of  the 
heart.  He  taught  not  a  theology  but  a  religion. 
But  those  who  came  to  believe  in  him  brought  with 
them  their  ignorance  and  many  of  their  supersti- 
tions. Their  false  conceptions  of  things  were  not 
corrected  by  a  belief  in  the  Messiahship  of  Jesus. 
They  brought  with  them  their  metaphysical  specu- 
lations. They  came  into  Christianity  with  all  their 
intellectual  possessions.  The  problem  which  pressed 
upon  them  was,  How  can  Greek  culture  of  the  day 
be  harmonized  and  united  with  the  teachings  of  Je- 
sus ?  The  difficulty  which  the  Gnostics  of  Colossae 
had  in  fitting  Jesus  into  their  speculative  system 


306   HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

was  but  the  first  of  a  long  series  that  were  to  trouble 
the  church  and  vex  its  peace.  It  was  inevitable 
that  there  should  be  a  fusion  of  Christianity  with 
the  philosophy  and  superstition  of  the  Greeks,  in 
which  the  former  was  sure  to  suffer  and  lose  much 
of  its  simplicity.  The  religion  of  Jesus  became 
corrupted,  his  religion  was  replaced  by  a  philosophy. 
The  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  with  its  lofty  ethics, 
was  eventually  replaced  by  the  Athanasian  Creed, 
with  its  subtle  metaphysics.  The  oneness  of  Jesus 
with  the  Father  in  love,  will,  and  purpose  was  re- 
placed by  a  oneness  in  substance.  The  religious 
and  ethical  greatness  of  Jesus  was  obscured  by  the 
speculation  about  his  metaphysical  relations  to 
God.1 

1  See  Hatch,  The  Influence  of  Greek  Ideas  upon  Christianity. 


APPENDIX. 


THE  CHRONOLOGY  OF  THE  PERIOD. 

IT  must  be  emphasized  at  the  outset  that  it  is  impos- 
sible to  fix  all  the  dates  of  this  period  with  certainty. 
What  is  here  offered  is  given  as  a  working  basis.  It  is 
not  claimed  that  they  are  absolutely  correct. 

Just  a  word  as  to  the  process  of  determining  them.  It 
seems  to  be  certain  that  Porcius  Festus  became  Procu- 
rator and  reached  Caesarea  (Acts  xxv.  1)  in  the  spring 
of  the  year  60  A.  D.  Paul  had  already  been  two  years 
a  prisoner  (Acts  xxiv.  27).  That  fixes  his  arrest  in  Jeru- 
salem in  the  year  58  (Acts  xxi.  27  ff.).  After  Festus 
came,  Paul  appealed  at  once  to  Caesar,  and  probably  set 
sail  for  Rome  in  the  autumn  of  60,  but  because  of  ship- 
wreck did  not  reach  his  destination  until  the  spring  of 
61.  These  dates  may  be  regarded  as  well  established. 
From  the  various  indications  given  in  Paul's  letters  and 
in  the  Acts,  combinations  must  be  made,  and  we  reckon 
from  these  dates  backward  and  forward. 

A.  D. 

The  Crucifixion 30 

Stephen's  death 33-34 

Conversion  of  Paul    .....  34-35 
His  labors  in  Arabia,  his  return  to  Damas- 
cus, his  visit  in  Jerusalem,  and  his  return 
to  Tarsus        .  .     34-45  until  about  38 


308  APPENDIX, 

His  labors  in  Tarsus,  about  .  .  .  38-43 
The  conversion  of  Cornelius  ...  40 
The  founding  of  the  first  church  among  the 

Gentiles  at  Antioch         ....         42 
Barnabas  brought  Paul  from  Tarsus  to  Anti- 
och, about 43 

James  the  brother  of  John  slain  by  Herod 
Agrippa  II.,  who  was  king  over  Judaea, 
Galilee,  Perea,  etc.,  41-44,  JSaster  .  44 

Paul  made   the   journey  described   in  Acts 

xiii.-xiv.,  about 44-51 

The  so-called  council  at  Jerusalem        .       50  or  51 
Paul's  missionary  journey  through  Asia  Mi- 
nor, Macedonia,  Greece,  and  his  residence 
in  Corinth  ;  the  so-called  second  Missionary 
Journey,  about       .....  50-54 
His  residence  in  Ephesus,  the  so-called  third 

missionary  journey  ....  54-58 
Paul's  arrest  in  Jerusalem  .  at  Pentecost  58 

Felix,  Procurator 52-60 

Porcius  Festus,  Procurator  .  .  .  60-62 
Paul  imprisoned  in  Csesarea  .  .  .  58-60 
In  the  autumn  Paul  sailed  for  Rome,  which  he 

reached  in  the  following  spring  .  .  60 
His  imprisonment  in  Rome  .  .  61—62  or  63 
Probably  set  free,  his  journey  to  Spain  ?  His 

return  to  the  East 62-63 

His  second  arrest  in  Ephesus,  sent  to  Rome 

where  he  suffered  martyrdom.     Probably 

Peter  also  suffered  martyrdom  about  the 

same  time  in  Rome          .         .       64-65  or  later 

The  death  of  James,  the  brother  of  Jesus,  in 

Jerusalem       ......         62 

The  Fall  of  Jerusalem  .         70 


APPENDIX.  309 

The  death  of  John  is  said  to  have  occurred  about 
98.  Practically  for  us  the  apostolic  age  ends  with  the 
death  of  Paul,  for  we  have  no  certain  information 
about  the  whereabouts  or  labors  of  any  of  the  other 

apostles. 


INDEX  OF  TEXTS. 


GENESIS, 
ix.  6  

151  n 

151  n 
151  n 

15171 

..150 
..108 
..290 

xi.  19-21  

41         TTV1.    10... 

96 

xi.  20  

53 

xxvi.  16  ... 

11Q 

LEVITICUS 
iii  17  

xi.  25  

115 

ROMANS. 

xi.  26  

44 

xi  27-30 

116 

vii.  26  

xii  12  

.78 

i  16 

149 

xvii.  10-24  
xviii  

ISAIAH, 
liii.  10  

MATTHEW 

xii.  17  
xii.  25  
xiii  
xiii.  -xiv..  50, 
xiii.  1  ff  
xiii.  9  
xiii.  50  

46 
116 

?S  in,  177  ff 
44 
90 
32  n 

ii.  6-16.... 
ii.  26-29.... 
ii.  28-30  .  .  . 
iii.  Iff... 

137 
137 
139 
148 

vi.  3  
xii.  Iff  

299 
288 
48/,  50 

xiv  19  

.     275 

xvi  3,4  . 

200 

v.  17  

.  133 

128,  142  ff 
141 
114 
149 
150 
159  n 
163 
32n 
169 
92  « 

xvi.  10 

m 

JOHN. 
iv.37/  
xxi.  18-23  

ACTS, 
i.-viii.  3  
i.  15  
ii  

...56 
..271 

.62n 
...64 
.71  ff 

XV.  1  

xv.  23  
xv.  27  
xv.  29  
xv.  36-xxi.  26 
xvi.  6  
xvi.  14  
xvi.  20,  21  ... 
xvi.  37  

xxi.  10,11  57 
xvi.  14.  50 

1  CORINTHIANS. 
lCor....l57,159n,214./r 
i.  11  213 
i.  26  64 
iii.  18  219 
iv  1                            1la 

ii.  38  
ii.  42-47  
ii.  44,45  
iv.  32  

..299 
.87r» 
...77 
...77 

xvii.  6  
xvii.  28  
xviii.  5  

...51,275 
....14,  93 
176 
18n 

iv.  7  
iv.  8-13  
v  
v.  5  

213 
221 

222 
.     ..   .212 

iv.  34,  35  

...77 

xix.l  
xix.  5  
xix.  22  
xix.  27    
xix.  29  
xix.  31  
xix.  33  
xix.  39  
xx.2  
xx  8 

193 
299 
213 
197 
197 
195 
269 
197 
249 
275 

vi.  1-11  
vi.  12  
vii  
vii.  8  
vii.  20,  21... 
vii.  21  
viii  
viii.  13  
ix  
ix  1 

222 
223 

**{ 

•  *"> 

265  n 
228 
226  ff 
150 
229  ff 
104 

iv.36,37  120 
v.  12-16  87n 
v.  42  87  n 
vi.  9  95,102 
vii.  68  102 
viii  18  f> 
viii.  1-4  37 
viii.  1C  299 
ix  -iiu  f 

ix.1-30  
ix.  19  
ix.  23-25  

.89n 
...37 
..111 

xx.  31  
xxi.  17-26.... 
xxi  20  .... 

195 
157  n 
.47   129 

ix.  5  
ix.  18-23.  .  . 
xi  17-34 

.47,  50,  161 
157  n 
231 

ix.31  
ix.  32./F.  

...38 
..  46 

xxi.  n  ff.  .... 

307 
.   104/ 

232 

xii  13 

299 

x.  2  

.32» 

xxii.  28  
xxiii.  5  
xxiv.  27  
xxvi... 

92n 
98 
307 
104  /,  307 

xii.  28  
xiii.  

292 
235  / 

x.  26-30  
x.  48  
xi.-xii.25  

..113 
..299 
.62  n 

xiii.  4-7.... 
xiv.  2... 

236 
...76.79 

312 


INDEX  OF  TEXTS. 


xiv.fi  

75 
....  75 

xi.  13-15  248 
xi.  16  246 
xi.  22  249 
xi.  22-29  101 
xi.  25  123,  170 
xi.  32,33  Ill  bis 
xii.  7  97 

iv.  1  265» 
iv.  11  91 

1  THESSALONIANS. 
1  Thess  159  n,  175  rf 
ii.  2  170 

xiv.27  
xiv.  34  

XV  

xv.  3-8  
xv.  6  

75 
229 
236^ 
68 
64 

iii.  2  180 

xv  8  

104 

xii.  11  246 
xii.  12,  13  248 
xii.  14  239 
xii.  20,  21  245 
xiii.  1  239 
xiii.  2  240,  245 

GALATIANS. 
Gal  159  n  205  ff 

iv.  11  78  » 

2  THESSALONIANS. 
2  Thess  159  n,  178  ff 
ii.  2  179 
iii.  10,  11  78 
iii.  17  98,  179 

xv.  32  
xv.  33  
xxi  
xvl.  9  
xvi.  10,  11  .  . 

200 
93 
238 
199 
...213,  214 

xvi  12 

....222 

2  CORINTHIANS. 
2  Cor  159w 
i.  8-10  199 
i.  14  243 
i.  15-17  240 
i.  17    94K 

1  TIMOTHY. 
1  Tim  267  / 

i.  15-17  110 
i.  17  104 
i.  22,  23  115 
ii  130,  145,  152 
ii   1  2          ....       143 

i.2  265 
iii.  8-12  295 
v.  1-17  295 

2  TIMOTHY. 
2  Tim  267  / 

ii.  1  

239 

ii   7       45 

ii.  4  

241 

ii.  9  147 

ii.  5-11  
ii.  12  
ii.  17  
iii.  i  

245 
242 
244 

...244,  246 

ii.  11  ff  151 
ii.  11-21  157  n 
iii.  19  94 
iii.  27  299 

ii.  9  269 

iv.  13  268 
iv.  16  269 

TITUS. 
Titus  267 
j.  12  93 

iv  

...201,  249 

iv.  4  ...2 

iv.2  
v.  12  
v.  13  
v.  16  

247 
246 
245 
95 

iv.  13  163  bis 
iv.  13  ff  98 
iv.  21-31  140  n 
iv.  29  94 

PHILEMON, 
vs.  9  92,  265  /' 

HEBREWS. 
x.  25  18 

vi  
vi.  1-10  
vi.  3-10  

201 
249 
102 

v.  12  211 
vi.  11  99,  210 

EPHESIANS. 
Eph  260 
i.  15  261 
iii    iv   260 

vi.  11-13  

...242,  243 

vij  2-4  

243 

x.  32-34  274 

1  PETEK. 
v.  6  296 

vii.  2-16.... 
vii  8-11. 

242 
241 

viii  

244 

PHILIPPIANS. 
i.  1  295 

viii.  1-5  

172 

v.  12  162 

viii.  16-22  . 

243 

JUDE. 
Jude  292  n 

viii.  24  

243 
201 

i.  12-26  100 
i.  13  56 

x.  1-10  
x.  7  
x.  18  
xi.  4  

245 
244 
246 
..  .....247 

ii.  25-30  261 
iii.  3  140w 
iv.  16  171,172 

COLOSSIAN8. 
Col  262/ 

REVELATION, 
i.  3  297 
ii.  9  274 

xi.  5  

247 

ii.  13  280 

xi.  6  

245 

iij  9  .       ..  274 

xi7... 

...246 

ii.  16...                 ...139 

A     000107084 


